by Mike Dawson
Left Field Cinema
.jpg)
... to understand Lumet, one must look fifty-years in the past to his first and possibly greatest feature film, 12 Angry Men, this simple classic about a jury member trying to convince the other eleven that the case isn’t as simple as they might assume, during deliberation about the innocence or guilt of a man charged with murder. Based on a stage play and set entirely in the jury room, this is a classic in the truest sense of the word. It is powerful and intense as it deals with the other juror’s prejudices towards the defendant and each other. A remarkable debut which sets Lumet up for his position in this list without ever having to make another film, but he certainly didn’t stop there. Lumet’s talent is retrieving powerful and often naturalistic performances from all of his cast, once quoted as saying “there are no small parts, only small actors” his beliefs in production often centre around this ideal. He does a lot of work, and most of it has faded into obscurity, some of it is mediocre, some films are simply flawed beyond redemption, however for all of his less known works, he still has a significant portion of outstanding films to name, films that any director would burst with pride if they could claim as their own. After 12 Angry Men, the next major work is Fail-Safe a politically relevant story about an American bomber sent to Moscow by mistake, it is a powerful film, and during the climate of the cold war, it was an extremely frightening concept. But like so many film makers, the 1970’s would be his most important decade, like Woody Allen, Lumet is obsessed with his beloved New York and it would be the setting for three of his most important films. Starting with Serpico and the first collaboration with Al Pacino the film is based on a real life story of an honest cop in the NYPD, starting with Serpico being shot and then rewinding to give us the young police officers rise and fall. It is brutal, and honest, doesn’t canonise or demonise the protagonist it paints a balanced picture, and shows the difficulty in remaining honest in a world of corruption. There are no rewards for taking the righteous path, and only punishment for shunning the alternative. Dog Day Afternoon was his second film with Pacino, retaining the intensity, naturalistic performances, and realistic portrayals of heightened situations. Dog Day Afternoon again gives the audience no easy way out of the situation. A very gritty view of 1970’s New York unflinching in its realism. Pacino’s character Sonny, is revealed to be homosexual, and stealing the money from a small bank to pay for his lover to have a sex change. This film was completely ahead of its time, and yet also tapped into a rebellious mindset which was true of the New Yorkers at the time. Lumet often steers clear of non-diagetic sound and it is in Dog Day Afternoon that this is put to its best use, with a film so tense and engaging that not only does the audience not require any music to dictate their emotion, but the audience doesn’t notice its absence until the end credits roll in eerie silence. Network is Lumet’s next masterpiece, an astounding achievement which is more relevant in today’s culture of reality television, and the exploitive nature of the medium which is often overwhelmed by an endemic sense of greed. Cynical and powerful it is a damning condemnation of films sister industry. Some would maintain that Network marks the end of Lumet’s run of classics through the 70’s, but his last great film came a decade later with Running on Empty in 1988 a restrained and powerful film, staring River Phoenix as the son of two fugitives from the FBI, it is sentimental in the best possible way, examining the growing pains of the young man who is not allowed to settle in one place or form any meaningful relationships. Running on Empty isn’t as well known, but is just as worthy of examination. Other later films like 1997’s Night Falls on Manhattan are also worth watching, but nothing to match the sheer power of his earlier work.
To Read the Rest of the Analysis
No comments:
Post a Comment