Matt Stone
Senior HTF Member
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- Jun 21, 2000
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- Matt Stone
Never saw a discussion thread on this, so I thought I'd start one.
Got it yesterday from Netflix, and I'm surprised that I didn't hear more about it last year. I remember it taking home the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2001, but aside from seeing Ebert and Roeper review it way back when, I haven't heard much.
I've gotta say I thought it was a really strong film. Not to mention Gosling's fantastic performance. I recently watched Murder By Numbers on HBO, and while the film sucked, I took notice of Gosling's performance. I didn't realize that he was in The Believer until I popped it in. From a couple of comments off of this forum as well as IMDB, I see that some have problems with the lack of explanation of what sent Danny Balint down this troubled path. Personally I don't see it as much of a problem, because I feel the film is much more internal than a film like American History X. While AHX dealt with the idea of hate and it's possible causes and reprocussions, I felt that The Believer was much more about one man's internal struggle between his believes and his heritage. I thought the reoccuring images of the Nazi Soldier (w/Balint's face) played well especially when the Jewish father was also shown as Balint. It was a good method of visual storytelling. Rather than some cheeseball voice-over, Bean conveyed Balint's feelings through images.
I'll have to think a bit more before I write anything else, but I'm really impressed with this film.
Got it yesterday from Netflix, and I'm surprised that I didn't hear more about it last year. I remember it taking home the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2001, but aside from seeing Ebert and Roeper review it way back when, I haven't heard much.
I've gotta say I thought it was a really strong film. Not to mention Gosling's fantastic performance. I recently watched Murder By Numbers on HBO, and while the film sucked, I took notice of Gosling's performance. I didn't realize that he was in The Believer until I popped it in. From a couple of comments off of this forum as well as IMDB, I see that some have problems with the lack of explanation of what sent Danny Balint down this troubled path. Personally I don't see it as much of a problem, because I feel the film is much more internal than a film like American History X. While AHX dealt with the idea of hate and it's possible causes and reprocussions, I felt that The Believer was much more about one man's internal struggle between his believes and his heritage. I thought the reoccuring images of the Nazi Soldier (w/Balint's face) played well especially when the Jewish father was also shown as Balint. It was a good method of visual storytelling. Rather than some cheeseball voice-over, Bean conveyed Balint's feelings through images.
I'll have to think a bit more before I write anything else, but I'm really impressed with this film.