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Down to the Movie
I'm still trying to get my head together about Down to the Bone, but tiredness is kicking my ass, I'm afraid. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lynnmonster had a nice writeup, if you want coherence.
Me, I'll just wibble here a little tonight.
* One word I'd use to describe the movie is "vivid" -- not in the technicolor sense, but rather a sense of living-ness, if you will. The movie was shot on hi-def videotape, which uses far smaller cameras and needs far less preparation for lighting. One result of this is that you can shoot theatrical-quality video in an ordinary-sized room -- which means that this film was shot in ordinary living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, rehab centers, et cetera. Real places, in other words, not some art director's idea of what "looks real" to an audience.
* Outdoor snowy scenes were shot... outdoors in ordinary snow, so there was lots of slush and snowbanks dirty-grey from exhaust.
* The film was shot in the Catskills, in various locations around Woodstock, Bearsville, Ellenville et al -- places I've been to and/or spent a lot of time in. I didn't recognize any location in particular, but it all looked familiar, you know? Because things around there just look like that.
* The rehab scenes? Filmed in an actual rehab unit, with real patients and nurses as extras.lynnmonster said she had been pretty impressed how well the rehab sets were dressed... no wonder that felt right.
* The actors? Looked like real people -- some of them were, as a for instance, Vera Parmigia's (Irene, the lead viewpoint character) real-life next door neighbor was cast as an old geezer who is fond of Irene, and has two entirely charming scenes with her. Irene is pretty, in a worn way, the people around her have for the most part ordinary faces.
* Hugh Dillon... freaking hot! But totally in a "you could meet somebody in real life who looks as good as this.
(I can't emphasize enough how attractive HD was here. Nor, evidently, stop talkig abut it.)
* The sound? There was an actual soundtrack, but it was all set as ambient music, with natural sounds pushed up to make up for the absence. No awkward-feeling pauses, either. Once again, this helped the movie get under my skin, because life sounds like that.
All this, and I haven't begun to go over details about the plot and characters, and how it really got to me. Because the above elements really worked it. It looked real, it sounded real, and I could relate to a lot of the plot and actions in the story, from the shock we get when Irene walks in on Bob (Dillon) shooting up in a bathroom, to a scene later on, where he injects her.
Why that affected me so -- like a big punch in the stomach, because it brought back something that a friend told me maybe 20 years ago -- is a subject for another post, if I'm going to really do it justice....
I so wish I had screen caps to share.
lynnmonster had a nice writeup, if you want coherence.Me, I'll just wibble here a little tonight.
* One word I'd use to describe the movie is "vivid" -- not in the technicolor sense, but rather a sense of living-ness, if you will. The movie was shot on hi-def videotape, which uses far smaller cameras and needs far less preparation for lighting. One result of this is that you can shoot theatrical-quality video in an ordinary-sized room -- which means that this film was shot in ordinary living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, rehab centers, et cetera. Real places, in other words, not some art director's idea of what "looks real" to an audience.
* Outdoor snowy scenes were shot... outdoors in ordinary snow, so there was lots of slush and snowbanks dirty-grey from exhaust.
* The film was shot in the Catskills, in various locations around Woodstock, Bearsville, Ellenville et al -- places I've been to and/or spent a lot of time in. I didn't recognize any location in particular, but it all looked familiar, you know? Because things around there just look like that.
* The rehab scenes? Filmed in an actual rehab unit, with real patients and nurses as extras.
lynnmonster said she had been pretty impressed how well the rehab sets were dressed... no wonder that felt right.* The actors? Looked like real people -- some of them were, as a for instance, Vera Parmigia's (Irene, the lead viewpoint character) real-life next door neighbor was cast as an old geezer who is fond of Irene, and has two entirely charming scenes with her. Irene is pretty, in a worn way, the people around her have for the most part ordinary faces.
* Hugh Dillon... freaking hot! But totally in a "you could meet somebody in real life who looks as good as this.
(I can't emphasize enough how attractive HD was here. Nor, evidently, stop talkig abut it.)
* The sound? There was an actual soundtrack, but it was all set as ambient music, with natural sounds pushed up to make up for the absence. No awkward-feeling pauses, either. Once again, this helped the movie get under my skin, because life sounds like that.
All this, and I haven't begun to go over details about the plot and characters, and how it really got to me. Because the above elements really worked it. It looked real, it sounded real, and I could relate to a lot of the plot and actions in the story, from the shock we get when Irene walks in on Bob (Dillon) shooting up in a bathroom, to a scene later on, where he injects her.
Why that affected me so -- like a big punch in the stomach, because it brought back something that a friend told me maybe 20 years ago -- is a subject for another post, if I'm going to really do it justice....
I so wish I had screen caps to share.
no subject
I so wish I had screen caps to share.
Heh. *I* wish I had screencaps to keep clutched in my own greedy little hands...