Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by tunenut (i) on January 05, 2001 at 12:57:22:

In Reply to: anyone see "pretty horses?" posted by shane versteeg on January 02, 2001 at 20:26:51:

I appreciate your comments regarding your interpretation of this movie. I had not thought about these issues.

Personally, I found this movie to be a very mixed bag. The photography is grand and beautiful. The story itself is fine, even taken on a literal rather than symbolic level. But the people are oddly detached emotionally. Obviously a conscious decision. But it left me quite unmoved and uninvolved. Characters die, a love affair begins and ends, but it was all so sylized that it was devoid of any emotional significance. Certainly all the elements were in place for a great updating of the classic Western. But it did not resonate with me after it was over.

Soon after I saw this movie, AMC showed The Wild Bunch. Now that, in my opinion, is an absolute classic. The choice at the end, to fight when there is no chance of survival, is a stunning conclusion to a film full of human drama.