I screencapped this shot of Cliff Robertson, from Underworld USA (1961, Sam Fuller), because it cracked me up that the espresso bar shares a name with the Elite Groceries store I photographed the other day.
I'd never seen a Fuller film before. He's a low-budget, B-movie director whom filmmakers such as Martin Scorcese name among their influences.
I can see why now: his bold black and white and extreme close-ups pack a punch so strong the shoddy sets fall away. It almost overcomes the stinker of a plot and the ludicrous dialogue.
(Well, the ludicrous dialogue has its own charm.)
Vision and energy can still trump big bucks.
In comparison, this summer's Inception has a clever plot but the visuals were zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. (Well, unless you've never seen a big-budget movie or a video game before.)
Still of two minds about whether to see this...someone compared it to Donnie Darko, which is almost enough to get me in the door. But mostly I don't like big and it bores me.
ReplyDeleteIn Oakland, we don't have so many elites, but we have lots of crowns.
SPARKER: I'd be interested to hear what you think of Inception, if you see it.
ReplyDeleteI thought it would make a great short story! And I would have loved it when I was twenty. But now, yeah, I thought it was kinda boring.