Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by rhizomatic (A) on March 16, 2005 at 14:19:51

In Reply to: Re: Duncan's meditation on Scorsese and Eastwood posted by rico on March 15, 2005 at 07:25:12:

'Instinct' and 'improvisation' have what to do with each other, exactly? Successful improvisation requires a sizeable body of technical knowledge and careful, precise skill.

The idea of anybody, much less Clint Eastwood, "directing by instinct" strikes me as the kind of pseudo-mystical hookum a critic deploys as filler when he doesn't have anything specific to say. How the hell does he know that Eastwood 'directs by instinct'? Was he on the set?

Besides which, the atmosphere of Mystic River is so stultifyingly manufactured there's zero room for unfeigned emotion. I don't see instinct, and I don't see much craft. I see an overfunded film student who thinks his pat morality play is extravagantly more profound than it manages to be.

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