Total Number of Ratings: 2
Film Ketchup - This Looks Great!
First Published: Saturday, February 6, 2010 5:04 PM
Last Saved: Saturday, February 6, 2010 5:09 PM
This week in Film Ketchup I saw two movies back to back that dealt greatly with the look and feel of the film, City of God and A Clockwork Orange. One of the films I've gotten the most crap for not seeing until now is A Clockwork Orange, the classic Stanley Kubrick film adapted from the 1962 Anthony Burgess novel. Starring Malcom McDowell as the strangely disturbed teen Alex DeLarge set in a dystopian future in England. Suffice to say the storyline itself is kind of disturbing in that he enjoys classical music, drugged milk, and lots and lots of violence. He often runs around with co-horts bursting into people's homes and committing horrible horrible acts. 
I was kind of blown away with the movie for two reasons, for a movie shot in 1971 I could not believe how great it looked. It looked like something shot in the late 80's/early 90's almost. The movie is almost 40 years old and it looks better than some of the films of this generation. There's a sign of a great filmmaker right there. Secondly, Malcolm McDowell played such a strange and great character. To go from a character who lives so freely (disturbingly free) without consequences, but then gets caught and constantly gags at even a thought of violence is pretty interesting.
Then the ending of the film came, and it just left me with this sense of fun you knew the character was about to have again given the circumstances of a few scenes earlier when he figures out he no longer has a gag reflex to violence.
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City Of God
Next up I watched City of God, a 2002 Brazilian film about organized crime through several decades in Rio De Janeiro. And to quote Paul Montgomery, "It's stupid pretty." This may be one of the best shot films I have ever seen. Everything about the way a shot is constructed, to the way the scene feels is fantastic. The acting across the board is pretty great as well. Rocket, the main character, dreams of becoming a photographer, but can't because of the gang violence. I really liked what they did with his character. In the beginning you have no idea if his character is going to live or not. And towards the end of the film I was still trying to figure out if he was going to live. It was a bit of a nail biter. 
City of God also has an incredible villain. Lil Ze. Lil Ze is the crime boss who has taken over the drug trade in the City of God and is incredibly self-centered, starting from his childhood. Both actors who played Lil Ze as a child and as an adult did a great job of making you hate him. You want this character to go to jail or be dealt with in some form of justice, but he would not go away. I loved how they took care of his character in the end though. Against adults he is one of the most powerful individuals in the City of God, waging a war against the fabulously named Knockout Ned, but against a bunch of children with guns, he is easily taken out.
Overall, both movies are worth checking out if you haven't seen them already. Even though City of God has come out in this decade I could easily see it being considered a classic film within several years.
City of God is one of my favourite films and would probably put it in the top 5 of my best movies of the decade, if I made a list.
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Clockwork Orange is why Malcolm McDowell gets a free pass for a lot of interesting choices. It's such an awesome movie, I don't know if I'd consider it "fun". But it is a litmus test for taste. If someone likes Clockwork Orange (from a rational movie stand point, not the "I want to live that way!" stand point) then you can probably be good buds. If they hate the movie and don't get what the fuss is all about, take a few steps back. say "nice to meet you" and walk away.