Zodiac (2007)

Posted by prla1983 on May 21, 2007 • 1 commentsEmail This Post

Went to see Zodiac earlier today. Knowing in advance that it was directed by David Fincher, one of my favorites, the stakes were high as far as I was concerned. I loved Se7en, The Game and Fight Club, but Panic Room was a real let down, so I had mixed feelings.

Still, Zodiac sounded like it could be pretty much like a reprise of Se7en. Now that I've seen it, I can say that it has similarities with it and one important difference. First, obviously the subject matter is pretty much the same, and the film has the same tone and colors (though Se7en was more... I don't know... damp, dark and sharp I guess are the words I'm looking for here, which in that sense made it even better). I could also swear that one particular scene looks so much like another scene on Se7en, that it could very well be a deliberate nod to the director's 1995 movie.

The key difference though, is that whereas in Se7en people (namely, a couple of detectives) are trying to catch a serial killer before he completes what he has set out to do, in Zodiac most of the film is about what happens after that point is reached. How the trail grows colder every day, except for a few obsessive people.

I liked it, but unfortunately its length (158 minutes) and uneven pace make it a film more difficult to digest than it should be in the first place, as far as I'm concerned. At nearly three hours, it's a really long one. Another minor gripe with it for me was that the cast although really competent wasn't memorable. Maybe I'm biased because of the incredible doubles of Pitt/Freeman and Pitt/Norton, but still I would have loved that the two detectives had been played by more interesting actors. In the case of Gyllenhaal, though I admit I'm not a fan of his, I do think he's been perfectly cast for his role.

Still, Fincher seems to be very much in control of his game, delivering again a top film, recovering from the mild disappointment that was Panic Room.

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1 Comments:

Blogger Enolough said...

"Zodiac" é um filme interessante e acima de tudo divertido.
A sequência da visita a casa do antigo projeccionista tem elementos de suspeanse que me lembraram "Chuva de Fogo".
Em geral o filme flui bem, e o facto de ultrapassar a barreira cultural dos 120 minutos não é grave excepto num ponto: a história tem dois picos, cresce, atinge pico, baixa, sobe de novo... Ora isto vai contra todas as regras que Aristóteles nos deixou na "Poética"... Sabemos que depois do clímax não pode haver mais altos e baixos, é tempo´de descompressão e fim. Essa é a principal falha. Quanto à imagem, não vi nada de próprio na cor, tonalidade, etc. Vi uma mudança de película nas cenas aéreas das cidades que não fica bem e a cópia que eu vi tinha sujidade em vários fotogramas (riscos).
Ainda assim é um bom filme, deixa coisas em aberto quando ao ver as características físicas do assassino percebemos que os crimes podem ter sido cometidos por mais de uma pessoa (porque no filme ninguém apresenta todas as características juntas).
Quanto ao cast - segue a tendência recente de Holywood - vamos ver um filme não pelos actores mas pelo realizador. O star system volta-se para trás da câmara...

Monday, June 04, 2007 11:57:00 am  

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