On Sunday, we took advantage of a free double pass from ABC’s RN Ideas Network to see a preview screening of the movie “Still Life” at Cinema Paradiso in Northbridge, one of a couple of ‘alternative’ cinemas in Perth, Western Australia. The critics have waxed lyrically with the film garnering awards at Venice, Edinburgh and other international festivals.
And may I say “Thank you, Uberto Pasolini” the guy who also brought us “The Full Monty’ – we loved it! It’s what I deem a typically well done ‘British’ film in that it is character-driven; character-centric and deliberately slower-paced compared to an American style of ‘commercial’ film-making.
The British seem to take their time, to allow an audience to absorb all the emotion, subtext and context, give them time to think about what they’re absorbing. I see it as a form of audience respect. Just like ‘Philomena’, ‘The Railway Man’, ‘Quartet’ etc as I’ve mentioned before in a previous “Top 10 Movies of 2013” blog post…
Although the subject and lead character seem dismal on the surface, this film is not slow and when the ending came I, as audience didn’t want it too. My mind was full of questions about what happens next to others we had met in the last 2 hours…
Two days later I’m still thinking about the questions and beautiful clever human touches inserted perfectly into the visual narrative, making dialogue almost obsolete.
As a screenwriter I couldn’t fault the completed circle of story-telling carrying me so effortlessly, or the clues in the frame perfectly placed and plausible to the point of my being able to forget the production and direction involved – except to applaud it with everyone else, at the end.
Yes, a near-capacity cinema audience clapped loudly at the ending as they do when they are particularly moved, demonstrated clearly by how many sat and waited for all the credits to finish, before leaving.
I suspect we wanted our swollen, tear-filled eyes to reduce a little before the harsh glare of sunlight exposed just how much we were affected by such excellence.
#FrancesMacaulayForde #MOVIE:StillLife #ABCRadioNetwork #UmbertoPasolini
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