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Reviews
Unlocked: A Jail Experiment (2024)
Unlike anything I've seen
Unlocked: A Jail Experiment is a mini series that follows the inmates of a cell block in Little Rock Arkansas as they navigate and negotiate life in jail environment, but without guards and without locks on their cell doors. At face value, this sounds like an impossible concept to film given the immense risks involved with allotting such freedom to some of societies most unruly men, but here it is for your curiosity to consume. I was at first turned off by the overly dramatized style of the documentary, but the high stakes of the experiment and the personalities of the inmates drew me in. I found the episodes to be raw and emotional, making the human spirit the main character. I've never seen any show quite like this one simply for the natural unfolding of almost Shakespearean drama. The pain and shame of the individuals involved sets a silent overtone despite their overly masculine facades. The American prison system can truly be cruel and dehumanizing and it is only in its context that these men could possibly have taken this experiment as seriously as they did, desperate to maintain their suddenly acquired freedom. The line that will stick with me, in response to the added privilege of free phone calls for all inmates, was "this is paradise". This series can be truly heart wrenching, and it will show a side of humanity that we all can relate to, in the least likely of places.
Oppenheimer (2023)
WATCH TWICE
"Oppenheimer ", Christopher Nolan's 11th feature film, is a character study of the man behind the Manhattan project, J. Robert Oppenheimer. This film peers into his life, achievements, relationships and flaws with the backdrop of the race to make a functioning atomic bomb first before the Nazis and then before the Soviets. Although this film, on paper, could read much like a biopic, a more accurate genre for this film would be "thriller" edging on "horror". From the first sequence, the viewer is gripped by the momentum of the film and never given a chance to recover. The editing, acting, sound design and cinematography all work in unison to push the viewer along through this complex narrative and create a truly transfixing experience. Although the initial viewing was an impressive experience, the pace of the narrative and complexity of the cast and dialogue lended to an amount of confusion that was not negligible. Upon second viewing, it was much easier to follow the plot and characters, allowing me to have a different and even more immersive and emotional experience than the first viewing. This may be a problem for some viewers who do not wish to see the movie twice, but as many Nolan fans will understand, his style of movie making challenges the viewer, and this film is no different. Though I have only seen it twice, I strongly suspect this is a film that keeps giving with every additional viewing.
Dunkirk (2017)
Gotta Watch This One More Than Once
I remember the first time I watched this movie. It was confusing, played very loudly in the theater and I could barely remember the characters after the credits rolled. I did enjoy the scenes with the spitfires, including the second to last shot of Hardy in front of his burning plane. So overall I was pleased with the aesthetic of the movie but I was not interested in the narrative and I felt there was a void where I wanted there to be connection to the characters. Those were my original thoughts on the movie.
And then I watched it again on Blu-Ray.
Completely different experience watching Dunkirk for the second time. What was confusing upon my first viewing materialized into a harmonious narrative. The way Nolan weaves the three different timelines in the movie can be confusing on your first viewing and I don't think I figured out what was going on until halfway through the movie. Upon the second viewing I already knew what was going on and I was able to make a lot more sense out of the structure and I have decided it is absolutely genius. The way that the three narratives cross each others paths is so seamless. The way that music swelled and ebbed was epic. Not only was I mind-blown by the editing of the film but the second viewing revealed the connection to the characters that I had missed the first time.
There is no hero in this movie. There are many heroes and several people who make mistakes under the pressure. Because you don't follow the progression of just one character, the importance of the sacrifices and decisions made by each character are multiplied. By viewing this a second time I found it easier to follow the pathways of each character and reflect on their character arcs. The genius of this film lies in its ability to tell many stories at once.. If you watch this film and pay attention to a single character and watch their every move, you will see what I am talking about. Every character had an equal part in telling the story (not the extras obviously).
This approach to telling a war story is entirely unique as far as I know and it genuinely made me feel as though I had just witnessed the evacuation of Dunkirk from a birds eye point of view. The movie gives you a mixed bag of emotions because some of the sacrifices made by the characters are hard to wrap your head around. Usually in a war movie every character dies in a cinematic way fighting evil until their last breath but in Dunkirk, sometimes characters die in a way no one would be proud of. I think this is a more realistic view on the story than I have come to expect from this genre and it is very thought provoking. The side of war that is often left out of war movies is the indecisive nature of it. No one in this movie had "plot armor" and Nolan used that uncertainty to give me an authentic experience.
To anyone disappointed upon their first viewing, watch it again and pay attention.
To anyone who has not seen this movie, watch it two times.