tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14812333.post7664583878468168269..comments2023-11-05T02:01:53.847-06:00Comments on Antagony & Ecstasy: ALAN J. PAKULA: PRESUMED INNOCENT (1990)Timhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09491952893581644049noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14812333.post-63540083452727365332010-06-09T02:47:36.923-05:002010-06-09T02:47:36.923-05:00Ah, I think it would be good to stop this hack-wri...Ah, I think it would be good to stop this hack-writing habit - sweeping, overconfident generalizations that are never backed up.<br /><br />Look, what are these disgustingly bad plot holes? It's getting to be quite a habit of yours, a bad one.<br /><br />I myself see this film like Unforgiven. Both generate almost all their narrative thrust through negating the genre's stereotypes. <br /><br />It makes for interesting viewing the first time around, but repeat viewings feel flat and limp. I think Paul Winfield is a great, wise, judge from the street - who ends up crooked. Julia is the arch nemesis - who must defend Ford. The wife is limp and passive - but is an MIT level mathematician who outschemes them all and hides by virtue of her mouse-ness. And so on. (Polhemus is just a femme fatale, that much is pure trope.)<br /><br />Same deal can be done for Unforgiven - hero's best friend gives him up during torture, killing the bad guy feels bad, the damsel in distress isn't quite so much one, etc.<br /><br />Same shallow screenwriting at work in both. I think Presumed carries it off better, because the characters are better drawn and more colorful, and there is a better sense of suspense.<br /><br />Unforgiven has nothing beneath or behind it; it's only this negation of Clint's early mythic years that is fueling its import. Blechh. <br /><br />And Ford, this is his attempt to negate himself, (like Mosquito Coast), by playing unlikable leads. He's weak, a slave to the sexual charisma of a blonde sex goddess. Aren't we all. <br /><br />So, I think the review missed some important stuff here. I also didn't note the abrupt switch in the movie. Where exactly did that happen? (Another overconfident assertion undefended...)Arctorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11952210157510203883noreply@blogger.com