Monglane
01-23-2006, 07:39 PM
On Sunday night a most extraordinary thing happened to me.
On my way to my editing room upstairs, I walked by the den where one of my sons was watching a movie with a friend. I looked in briefly to remind them of the time, and they enticed me to watch five minutes of their movie with them. I sat down on the couch, still thinking about all the exciting things that were waiting for me upstairs, looked mechanically at the TV screen, searching for an excuse to make a quick exit... and then the picture grabbed me. I was riveted and watched the whole movie with intense visual pleasure.
The movie was The General's Daughter by Simon West. One of those OK-but-not-unforgettable military thrillers with rather a feeble storyline, average suspension of disbelief and average acting, although Travolta was adequately intense (and, as usual, overdoing it a bit for my taste). The dubbed dialogues (the film was being broadcast on a TV channel) diddn't help either.
What captivated me so much, however, was the quality of the cinematography. Amazing lighting, minute attention to the shortest shots (like one of a wastebasket which was onscreen for about one and a half seconds), very innovative ways of showing the most trivial settings (like the swimming pool shot in chiaroscuro)... I could go on and on... Almost everything was perfect. A joy to watch.
I looked up the cinematographer : Peter Menzies Jr. Never heard of him before, but I got a listing of the movies he worked on through IMDb.com, and I'm gonna buy or rent all those I can lay my hands on. This guy is simply amazing, in my opinion.
Has anyone seen that movie (released in 1999) ? Does anyone feel the same, or was I just high on something that night ? :laugh:
On my way to my editing room upstairs, I walked by the den where one of my sons was watching a movie with a friend. I looked in briefly to remind them of the time, and they enticed me to watch five minutes of their movie with them. I sat down on the couch, still thinking about all the exciting things that were waiting for me upstairs, looked mechanically at the TV screen, searching for an excuse to make a quick exit... and then the picture grabbed me. I was riveted and watched the whole movie with intense visual pleasure.
The movie was The General's Daughter by Simon West. One of those OK-but-not-unforgettable military thrillers with rather a feeble storyline, average suspension of disbelief and average acting, although Travolta was adequately intense (and, as usual, overdoing it a bit for my taste). The dubbed dialogues (the film was being broadcast on a TV channel) diddn't help either.
What captivated me so much, however, was the quality of the cinematography. Amazing lighting, minute attention to the shortest shots (like one of a wastebasket which was onscreen for about one and a half seconds), very innovative ways of showing the most trivial settings (like the swimming pool shot in chiaroscuro)... I could go on and on... Almost everything was perfect. A joy to watch.
I looked up the cinematographer : Peter Menzies Jr. Never heard of him before, but I got a listing of the movies he worked on through IMDb.com, and I'm gonna buy or rent all those I can lay my hands on. This guy is simply amazing, in my opinion.
Has anyone seen that movie (released in 1999) ? Does anyone feel the same, or was I just high on something that night ? :laugh: