- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,311
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
Ben Affleck's Argo. I like the sound of that. Bright guy. Well respected, with major, deserved, traction in the industry. And with just cause. No matter how you splice it. Argo is a terrific piece of entertainment. "Based on the declassified true story." Probably more than I've seen before, discussions are weighing the merits of how close a fictionalized feature film, "based upon actual facts," (and we're not discussing low-budget horror films with found footage here) should be to reality. Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, Lincoln... The simple truth is that in most cases, pure facts don't necessarily make for a great screenplay. There must be a basis in form and function, audience attachment to the characters, and structure. If one desires pure truth, you'll probably not find it on film, even in documentaries, which are, in and of themselves, structured works that generally take a specific point of view. And by that I mean, they generally take a side, and play toward it. Even though Argo may not be absolute history from beginning to end, even if the final minutes in Iran are not based upon absolute fact, they make for a terrific film, and I believe that within that framework, Mr. Affleck and his associates have proven their abilities to create an edge of your seat drama, in which we care deeply about the characters, and the finality of which gets the basic tale of the aid from both Hollywood, and our neighbors to the north firmly in place. Technically, Argo is a brilliant piece of mixed media. Digital via Arri Alexa; 35mm as well as S35; S16 and 8mm. One source also mentions the use of Techniscope. Argo is a veritable master's class in cinematography and the gear that goes with it. As a Blu-ray, the film is perfect. Having gone through a 4k DI, what one is seeing in one's home theater, presuming that the environment has been properly calibrated, is pretty much what was viewed in the cinema, and dependent upon the cinema, sometimes better, albeit a bit miniaturized. Argo is not a film that won the Best Picture Academy Award as a fluke. This is a substantial, entertaining, and beautifully produced motion picture. Very Highly Recommended. RAH