Crash REACTION
Well, we finally made it out to the theater again ... it was quite ironic that earlier in the week one of SD's co-ws asked her if she had seen any good movies lately, and she had replied that actually she hadn't because we were spending a lot of time watching TV on DVD
We saw Crash this afternoon, and it has really been a while since I have seen such a well put together, coherent, and SHORT to the point, effective drama. And honestly, I cannot recall something recently that SD and I have seen that has provoked so much afterview discussion
This is not so much a review as a reaction to the film
First off, there are a ton of great performances all around, I mean, after seeing something like ROTS and seeing something like this ... it is a real breath of fresh air to see some acting, some subtlety, and some storytelling with facial expressions, emotion, body language, etc. I'm not dogging ROTS, but that may be the only thing keeping it from being a perfect picture in my opinion
Crash has a familar narrative style in that scenes blend into one another, telling of subplots and eventually having all the characters cross paths here and there in ways that you as the viewer may have thought would go down one way, but it surprises you and goes somewhere else. Not that that is a cheap tactic, but I think one of the purposes of the film is to play with your prejudices and be loose with the concepts of who is a hero, who is a villain ... so that you can see humanity and human frailty in all the characters
I'm not sure if I resonated more with this movie because I spent a handful of years living in Los Angeles. But I am inclined to say that this is an incredible movie of drama, suspense, purpose, and poignance that is set against the unique context of LA
I say poignance because it really takes a look at how people really relate to each other ... and not in a let's talk it dead way. I think that the movie brings forth a thesis about how we relate to others in the present day. One of the themes of the movie is: do we just shortcut how we view people, and think of people according to stereotypes and not see their common humanity. It is a very provocative theme -- and it makes you question why it is that we shortcut in this way, is it laziness, is it fear, what is it? And why would we shortcut when all we are really looking for is someone to relate to?
There are many other questions and issues that this movie raises. If you are in the mood for a very tight drama, with excellent acting, and a somewhat unique plot -- I would highly recommend Crash to you. I wouldn't hesitate to rate it as one of the best I have seen recently