The Lost Well
Critiquing the Critique
RECEIVED Mon., March 25, 2013
Dear Louis Black,
I get excited about movies, not unlike your Tree of Life-loving self. So please know that my critique of the critique is nothing personal toward Kimberley Jones, so much as my having a deep and abiding appreciation for what I saw yesterday. Mind you, a shoot-'em-up, leave-'em-for-dead genre that I normally avoid, except for the fact that Colin Farrell was teamed up with Noomi Rapace and Terrence Howard.
Now ,given that you've chosen to get back into your writing game by doing movie reviews, do us all a favor and go see Dead Man Down. Then try and defend this statement by Jones: "The Danish director Niels Arden Oplev, who filmed the original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and makes his English-language debut here, doesn't share the same affinity for nuance or depth of character" [Dead Man Down, Film Listings, March 15].
I may not have sold any movie scripts yet, but I've seen enough movies and I have learned and studied enough about acting to know that this was anything but what was described by Jones. To her credit, however, there wasn't a passive-aggressive bent to her review – as she shot Oplev dead in her opening paragraph by declaring her preference that another director should have helmed Dead Man Down. No small wonder that she went on to bash the director.
But please, when you take even just one the films micro-moments – Armand Assante's character laying down the law to Howard – do not pretend that Assante's measured performance did not give the film the perfect amount of gravitas at a critical moment. Add the manner in which the Dane layered Farrell's friendship with the sidekick, and delivered the climatic ending. Have I mentioned the onscreen chemistry between Farrell and Rapace that jumps right out and grabs you the moment they are shown eyeballing each other from their respective terraces?
The arcs of Farrell and Rapace's characters didn't just happen; it was layered bit by bit with the "nuance" and "depth of character" that Jones accused the film of lacking. See it for yourself if you don't believe me. Plug in a superbly shot film with a perfect blend of close-ups thrown into a well-executed mix on top of the climactic twisting at the end – come on, give a Danish director a break.
Here's an idea: Given Jones also came clean about her disgust with shoot-'em-up dead and deader films and her seeing Hitchcock everywhere, you might want to steer her clear of the former and keep her focused on the latter.
I get excited about movies, not unlike your Tree of Life-loving self. So please know that my critique of the critique is nothing personal toward Kimberley Jones, so much as my having a deep and abiding appreciation for what I saw yesterday. Mind you, a shoot-'em-up, leave-'em-for-dead genre that I normally avoid, except for the fact that Colin Farrell was teamed up with Noomi Rapace and Terrence Howard.
Now ,given that you've chosen to get back into your writing game by doing movie reviews, do us all a favor and go see Dead Man Down. Then try and defend this statement by Jones: "The Danish director Niels Arden Oplev, who filmed the original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and makes his English-language debut here, doesn't share the same affinity for nuance or depth of character" [Dead Man Down, Film Listings, March 15].
I may not have sold any movie scripts yet, but I've seen enough movies and I have learned and studied enough about acting to know that this was anything but what was described by Jones. To her credit, however, there wasn't a passive-aggressive bent to her review – as she shot Oplev dead in her opening paragraph by declaring her preference that another director should have helmed Dead Man Down. No small wonder that she went on to bash the director.
But please, when you take even just one the films micro-moments – Armand Assante's character laying down the law to Howard – do not pretend that Assante's measured performance did not give the film the perfect amount of gravitas at a critical moment. Add the manner in which the Dane layered Farrell's friendship with the sidekick, and delivered the climatic ending. Have I mentioned the onscreen chemistry between Farrell and Rapace that jumps right out and grabs you the moment they are shown eyeballing each other from their respective terraces?
The arcs of Farrell and Rapace's characters didn't just happen; it was layered bit by bit with the "nuance" and "depth of character" that Jones accused the film of lacking. See it for yourself if you don't believe me. Plug in a superbly shot film with a perfect blend of close-ups thrown into a well-executed mix on top of the climactic twisting at the end – come on, give a Danish director a break.
Here's an idea: Given Jones also came clean about her disgust with shoot-'em-up dead and deader films and her seeing Hitchcock everywhere, you might want to steer her clear of the former and keep her focused on the latter.
Charles Ponzio
