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DaveF · 05-10-2008, 10:06 PM

I saw Red Belt tonight; my first Mamet experience. The story veers in unexpected directions. Mike Terry is an interesting character and well portrayed throughout.

But the story is made willfully cryptic: complexities are made difficult to understand. And Mike's principled stance grows tedious as it quickly feels both naive and self-destructive -- but that complexity is also part of the films appeal. Perhaps a Mamet thing, but several characters all spoke in identical, artificial machine-gun stocattos that became tiresome, pushing me out of important emotional moments. Finally, I wish the ending had been less vague.

So the movie has weaknesses. But it's interesting, a meandering, surprising story with sorrow, betrayal, and pain. It showed me a bit of competitive fighting, with which I'm wholly unfamiliar. And it illuminates the value and loss from keeping one's principles.

05-10-2008, 10:06 PM	#4 of 22
DaveF Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Local Time: 08:23 PM Local Date: 10-13-2008 Posts: 4,964	Re: Redbelt - quick review I saw Red Belt tonight; my first Mamet experience. The story veers in unexpected directions. Mike Terry is an interesting character and well portrayed throughout. But the story is made willfully cryptic: complexities are made difficult to understand. And Mike's principled stance grows tedious as it quickly feels both naive and self-destructive -- but that complexity is also part of the films appeal. Perhaps a Mamet thing, but several characters all spoke in identical, artificial machine-gun stocattos that became tiresome, pushing me out of important emotional moments. Finally, I wish the ending had been less vague. So the movie has weaknesses. But it's interesting, a meandering, surprising story with sorrow, betrayal, and pain. It showed me a bit of competitive fighting, with which I'm wholly unfamiliar. And it illuminates the value and loss from keeping one's principles.