Movie Details
| Title: | The Diving Bell and the Butterfly | |
| Director: | Julian Schnabel | |
| Year: | 2007 | |
| Genre: | Drama | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 07.16.17 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (0)
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 07.16.17 | Netflix | So. This month I finally faced the music and cancelled my Netflix disc subscription. It's been a long time coming and I'm probably one of the last to even still have one but my time management and movie-watching habits have changed to the point where I would forget I even had discs sitting here on my desk. I thought it very fitting that the last Netflix disc I'd watch (for the time being anyway, you never know) was The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I think I've had this disc in my hands two or three times, sending it back without watching it over and over then figuring I really should see it and re-adding it to my queue. Julian Schnabel is a pretty singular vision and his other films (Basquiat and Before Night Falls) got an amazing amount of critical praise. I liked but didn't love those films though, and the thought of spending two hours inside the head of someone completely paralyzed was just too much I guess. But - as usual with these films that I put off watching forever - it was so so good. I think the bulk of the credit goes to Janusz Kaminksi. I mean I'm sure it was a team effort and everyone should take credit for bringing this together but this has some of the most claustrophobic interior photography I've seen in some time. It's also kind of a love letter to film, right? To do the same thing with digital I bet would be very difficult. How they achieved some of this footage...man... Also, as a quick aside, i really love Schnabel's confidence. I watched the special features to see how they did some of the shots and there's some footage of him wading out into the surf wearing nothing but a torn skirt with the actor on his shoulders. For a large man, he seems very comfortable in his body and his fashion choices, totally ridiculous in some cases, are surprising attractive. I think if I showed my belly wearing an unbuttoned plaid shirt with the sleeves cut off it would not look so great, but I guess put me in a loft with one of my million-dollar paintings behind me and all of a sudden my exposed flab is more like unbridled masculinity? I love it. |
