- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 17,761
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
As a huge fan of westerns, I had high hopes that Jared Moshe's The Ballad of Lefty Brown, might be a high spot for the genre in modern terms.
It's a small film, with a extremely insular cast, with the exception of a couple of sequences with a medium sized group of onlookers and involved actors.
The main cast is led by Bill Pullman, Kathy Baker, and Jim Caviezel, with an assist from Peter Fonda.
Bottom line -- it's a terrific film. More of a character study of Mr. Pullman's Lefty Brown. It all works.
What caught my interest was the cinematography.
What's obvious about the film, is that it doesn't look like a typical Hollywood western.
Clothing appears to be worn. Buildings lived in.
The look of the film is low density, a bit monochromatic, but with some odd things occurring. For example,
Cinematographer David McFarland, has the edges of some shots going oddly blue, almost faded or damaged from age. Night sequences take on a slightly cyan-green appearance.
None of this is by error, as Mr. McFarland knows what he's doing.
But it's an interesting take on the era.
Almost as if he had decided to use Kodak color negative stock that might have been around in the 1880s.
At first, I found it jarring, but then accepted it as the norm for the film, and it works.
An interesting film, worth your time.
Image - 5
Audio - 5 (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
Pass / Fail - Pass
Recommended
RAH
It's a small film, with a extremely insular cast, with the exception of a couple of sequences with a medium sized group of onlookers and involved actors.
The main cast is led by Bill Pullman, Kathy Baker, and Jim Caviezel, with an assist from Peter Fonda.
Bottom line -- it's a terrific film. More of a character study of Mr. Pullman's Lefty Brown. It all works.
What caught my interest was the cinematography.
What's obvious about the film, is that it doesn't look like a typical Hollywood western.
Clothing appears to be worn. Buildings lived in.
The look of the film is low density, a bit monochromatic, but with some odd things occurring. For example,
Cinematographer David McFarland, has the edges of some shots going oddly blue, almost faded or damaged from age. Night sequences take on a slightly cyan-green appearance.
None of this is by error, as Mr. McFarland knows what he's doing.
But it's an interesting take on the era.
Almost as if he had decided to use Kodak color negative stock that might have been around in the 1880s.
At first, I found it jarring, but then accepted it as the norm for the film, and it works.
An interesting film, worth your time.
Image - 5
Audio - 5 (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
Pass / Fail - Pass
Recommended
RAH
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