Drama
Noah’s Barks pages relating to the drama genre.
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The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
I’m heartbroken. Not because of the story of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, but everything else. I love musicals and thought its concept of every spoken line being sung was brilliant. I saw the bright, blooming colors and that this was a French movie and assumed that Jacques Demy foresaw my birth and created this movie… (read more)
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Once Upon a Time in the West
I never expected any western to approach the quality of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, but Once Upon a Time in the West both gave me hope and succeeded. The overstretched beginning is fairly flat, but once Charles Bronson and Jason Robards meet it’s as if the whole movie suddenly goes aflame. Sergio… (read more)
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Inside Llewyn Davis
As a folk fan, Inside Llewyn Davis is a heavy disappointment. I can’t buy into it as a portrayal of the early-60s folk scene because the Coen bros’ dialogue is too crass, modern, and maybe simply anachronistic. The intense bitterness of every character being either an idiot hick or a smartass shithead is overbearing, and… (read more)
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Throne of Blood
Awesome, haunting stuff but I’ve noted in my other reviews that I’m a big fan of Akira Kurosawa‘s characterization through dialogue and there isn’t much of that in Throne of Blood. It has an extremely modest runtime for his career being under two hours, but it both does and doesn’t feel its length. It takes… (read more)
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The Straight Story
David Lynch’s unexpectedly, intensely sentimental The Straight Story doubles both as a tale of redemption and an empathetic and fair tribute to a more conservative era gone past, as reflected by one of many men who define it. Though as predictable as you’d expect, very relaxed, natural dialogue and performances, an excellent score from Badalamenti,… (read more)
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Punch-Drunk Love
Punch-Drunk Love is a very unexpected mix of palpably uncomfortable anxiety-ridden drama, frilly romance, and absurdist comedy that comes incredibly, incredibly close to imploding in on itself by becoming a wild mess – but there’s just enough ambiguity to its strangeness to blur these cracks over and make it a really lovely trip. Any primary… (read more)
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Aguirre, the Wrath of God
The cinematography is masterful with truly blooming colors, and you’ve got a top-tier performance from Klaus Kinski backed by an unforgettable theme composed by Popol Vuh, but all of my hang-ups with Aguirre, the Wrath of God are narrative focused. The sense of humor in particular does nothing for me, and at worst it suddenly… (read more)
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Three Colors: Red
I try to share my thoughts on every movie I watch, but Three Colors: Red has me tongue-tied trying to express how I feel. As I watched what first seems to be another lovely human drama in this great trilogy, my mind eventually began to unravel when I realized the metanarrative Kieslowski was going for… (read more)
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Carrie
The imagery of Sissy Spacek as Carrie bug-eyed, drenched in blood as she walks through the flames is as powerful as ever. But Carrie’s tragedy is castrated by incredibly hammy performances that border on a cartoon’s depiction of high school students, as well as a lack of intensity due to the era the movie was… (read more)
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Raging Bull
Martin Scorsese‘s sharp decision to film in black and white gives Raging Bull a special framework that elevates it beyond a simple biopic. Raging Bull is a third-person lens at an era gone past, and the juxtaposition of the beautifully soft theme music against Jake LoMotta’s (Robert De Niro) intensity aids the retrospective feel. Also… (read more)