| Outstanding portrait of Buñuel |
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| written by lockeender |
March 17, 2003 - 3:39 PM PST |
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1 out of 1 members found this review helpful
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| This is an excellent documentary. It's a biography not a film highlight reel, which I found quite refreshing. The film focuses on Buñuel's life, philosophies, and influences. It examines the filmmaker and not the films--as a result I feel that I understand his films better now (by learning so much about him, especially his views on sex and sexual cinema) than listening to any single commentary. My only complaint is that the documentary was shot in 1.78:1 or 1.85:1, and every clip of a film or other older footage was cropped to this ratio. So older films like the Andalusian Dog, or L`Âge d'Or are tilt-and-scanned--chopping off the top and bottom of the frame--instead of windowboxing them in the 1.78:1 frame; and any film shot in a wider ratio is pan-and-scanned--chopping off the left and right of the frame. Also the sources for many of the film clips used were highly inadequate. Having just seen The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, with a beautiful, detailed transfer, it was very annoying to see washed-out, grainy, overly dark, terrible-looking clips from that film. Other than these technical quibbles the film is an excellent documentary and look at a legendary film artist. |
| Surrealism giant |
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| written by bfortune |
January 14, 2003 - 11:33 PM PST |
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2 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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| Anyone interested in surrealism would be interested in this movie - Bunuel is one of the greatest, and his history was very interesting and revealing. |
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