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 MOTM #114 "Every now and then, the impossible happens. Surrounded by presold blockbusters and high-visibility epics, a modest little movie comes along - with a simple story, an unpretentious look, and old-fashioned values - and doesn't get swept away by the sound, fury, and zillion-dollar promotion budgets of its big-studio competitors. A Midnight Clear is such a movie. On the surface, it has all the disadvantages that cause most independent productions to disappear from theaters as soon as they open, if they ever get to theaters at all. Its budget is low, its subject is unusual for present-day tastes, and its cast doesn't boast a single high-powered name. Yet this small, human-scaled drama has established itself as a small, human-scaled hit with an enthusiastic - and apparently growing - audience." -David Sterritt "William Wharton, who wrote the tersely poetic 1982 novel on which the film is based, used his experiences as a soldier in the World War II Army Specialized Training Program--intended for GIs with genius IQs--and the characters were inspired by his platoon mates, few of whom survived the war. The movie shares with the novel a half-surreal, half-photographic quality. The realistically taut dialogue, oddly expunged of profanity, almost clashes with the glassy purity of the images." -Michael Wilmington I rarely see this one mentioned. I saw it many years ago on cable TV one night and it's stuck with me as it was the first time I saw soldiers who were contemplative and reluctant fighters with consciences. Another uniqueness was the WWII-era GIs being played by young actors rather than the more typical older ones. Battles from this era weren't fought by cigar-chomping, grizzled old veterans dispensing cool one-liners but rather confused kids. Likewise, the German characters are also portrayed as victims of those above them. War on film is such a broad genre but one way to divide them would be by those that cover the grand events and large scale battles etc. and those that cover the small or more poetic aspects. This definitely falls in the latter portion. Reading through some detracting reviews you'll find people decrying these soldiers as fakes as they're prone to mistakes, not exactly heroic and not hellbent for bloodlust. I suppose that's another way the characters and plot provided a fresh and new perspective. Some of the cast is instantly recognizable but they weren't household names back in 1992. PS don't get the DVD from Netflix as you're likely to get a 1.33:1 pan and scan.  It's available on Youtube in its proper 1.85:1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lta8USwMkIM A Midnight Clear is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It has some scenes of piercing violence and carnage, as well as a lot of vulgar language. The Complete Movie of the Month Listing: 1776 | 2001: A Space Odyssey | 24 Hour Party People | 8 1/2 | The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension | Aguirre: The Wrath of God | All That Jazz | American Movie | Baraka | The Battle of Algiers | Being There | Beyond the Valley of the Dolls | Bicycle Thief | Black Hawk Down | Blade | Branded to Kill | The Brave Little Toaster | Breaking Away | The Bridge on the River Kwai | Brief Encounter | Bullet in the Head | Charade | Chitty Chitty Bang Bang | Close-Up | The Conversation | The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover | Day For Night | The Court Jester | Death Race 2000 | Dead Man | Darkman | Detour | Devils on the Doorstep | Do the Right Thing | Double Indemnity | Downfall | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | El Topo | Falling Down | A Face In The Crowd | Fanny and Alexander | Fat City | Funny Bones | Galaxy Quest | Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai | Glengarry Glen Ross | Gremlins 2: The New Batch | Horor of Dracula | La Haine | The Ice Storm | The Intruder | It's a Wonderful Life | Judgement at Nuremberg | Jumanji | The King of Comedy | Last Train From Gun Hill | The Leopard | The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp | Little Shop of Horrors | Living in Oblivion | The Long Goodbye | Love & Death | M | Masculin Féminin | Man on Fire | The Man Who Would Be King | Modern Times | The Monster Squad | Mousehunt | Mulholland Drive | My Best Friend's Wedding | My Darling Clementine | My Own Private Idaho | Naked | Outland | The Panic in Needle Park | Peeping Tom | Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Play Time | The Proposition | Punishment Park | The Pusher Trilogy | Rififi/Rashômon | The Ref | Rock 'n' Roll High School | Ronin | The Rules of the Game | Safe | Schizopolis | Son of Frankenstein | The Squid and the Whale | Stop Making Sense | The Super Inframan | Sunset Boulevard | Surviving The Game | The Sweet Hereafter | The Third Man | Titicut Follies | Vampyr | The Vanishing | Videodrome | The Wild Bunch | Wit | Withnail & I | The Young Girls of Rochefort | Zardoz Zogo fucked around with this message at 07:16 on May 7, 2015 |
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May 7, 2015 07:12
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| # ? May 3, 2024 18:52 |
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I didn't think anyone else knew this film existed. Very lovely movie with memorable scenes. A bit amateurish, especially the very end, as I recall, but sweetly so.
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May 7, 2015 08:15
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This sounds right up my alley. I've got to track this down. E: Duh. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lta8USwMkIM Everyone watch it now.
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May 7, 2015 15:16
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This was one of the first movies I bought on DVD (though it's the 4:3 version). Commentary is pretty interesting, since it goes into how limited their budget was but still managed to make it work. Along those lines it's a war movie with no big battle scene, and yet manages to evoke the battles that had been fought rather well.
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May 9, 2015 00:57
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Not bad. If anything stood out it was the music, which is jarring to hear being so used to the post-Saving-Private-Ryan stylistic paradigm. It definitely slides nicely into the Platoon-influenced era of the American war genre. I liked it better early on, especially those haunting moments where they're sitting out in the darkness of the forest hearing all sorts of mysterious German poo poo just beyond their sight. The Ardennes is really the perfect iconic setting for the narrative. It sure was a hell of a crop of young actors, too, with Sinise and Hawke standing out. The German leader also lent some real weight to the situation. You can kind of tell where the film's facing budgetary limitations, and subsequently where the post-production work tries to make up for it. It's unfortunate that the seams tend to make themselves visible, but otherwise it was an OK watch. Thanks for the rec.
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May 14, 2015 15:08
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I had not seen it in a while and yeah, the music stood out to me as well. The ethereal synth stuff was fine, it was more in the 'tension' tracks that it showed its age. I'm very glad that the widescreen version is accessible. This is wonderfully shot, and the reformatting just wrecks the composition:    (that last is a shot where Mother [on the right] is talking and you can see his lips moving) Probably the worst is this, from a critical moment:  It's not all bad. Some shots still look really good:    There are a handful of deleted scenes on the DVD, with a slightly altered beginning/ending, and a few expanded themes. If people want I can give more details.
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May 15, 2015 02:04
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One thing I forgot to mention in the OP. Is this film similar to Band of Brothers in any way? That's a series I've been meaning to watch.Kangra posted:There are a handful of deleted scenes on the DVD, with a slightly altered beginning/ending, and a few expanded themes. If people want I can give more details. The one scene I felt could've been inserted at some point was when Mother and that drill sergeant type got in a fight in the barracks. It showed more explicitly his instability and why things had to be hidden from him. IIRC all but one of the deleted scenes are in their proper ratio on the DVD too. In this day and age it's almost a surprise to not find something on Youtube but those scenes aren't on there. Kull the Conqueror posted:...post-Saving-Private-Ryan stylistic paradigm. I read that they used AMCs script for SPR auditions. Kull the Conqueror posted:It definitely slides nicely into the Platoon-influenced era of the American war genre. Some of the reviews I've read said this one kind of fit into a lull when not a lot of WW2 films were being released and the industry was more obsessed with Vietnam from both the leftist/rightist/centrist viewpoints (Platoon vs. Rambo series vs. Hamburger Hill). Zogo fucked around with this message at 21:58 on May 20, 2015 |
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May 15, 2015 21:20
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| # ? May 3, 2024 18:52 |
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Zogo posted:One thing I forgot to mention in the OP. Is this film similar to Band of Brothers in any way? That's a series I've been meaning to watch.
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May 16, 2015 05:57
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