Director: Stanley Kubrick
Before the independent film world was established, directors had to come up through the Hollywood system. Talented directors were often compelled to make genre pictures until they could get the latitude to do things closer to the way they wanted to. I don't know if this is the case for The Killing, but it's certainly different from the director's later work.
It's also easy to say that the director's future genius is obvious in a picture like this - there's always one shot that indicates that this director 'really understands how film works.' In this case, it's a wonderful shot of men planning a heist under a direct and bright light - the way the faces emerge into the light from the darkness and move out again is very effective.
The film is a solid heist movie, although there is an excess of narration. The noir standard is for the protagonist to narrate the film - here it's a third party. Characters also put all sorts of ridiculous exposition in each other's mouths. These devices keep the film to a trim 83 minutes, but they're limiting.
Also, the concluding shootout is not nearly as well-done as is the homage to it in Reservoir Dogs.
ReplyDeleteah, i didn't even pick that up. yeah that scene was confusing - i'm pretty sure 1950s censorship rules have something to do with that.
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