Se7en
🏆97%
You see this? This is us.
12 months, 12 directors: David Fincher (3/12)
It’s been about four years since I watched this for the first time, and just like Fight Club, I picked up on so many details and clues throughout that makes this such a great rewatch. One thing I’ve definitely noticed while watching these Fincher movies is that he is a master at crafting these duos of leads. Garfield and Eisenberg, Pitt and Norton, and here we have Pitt returning with Morgan Freeman, each delivering one of their best performances for me. While I do think there are some line deliveries in the first act that truly don’t work for me, I still think this movie contains some of the best screenwriting in Fincher’s films. The exchange between John, William and David is astounding, as well as the constant arguing. It all feels so smooth and natural and engages you without getting anywhere close to being over the top or confusing. As not fun as it is to talk about him nowadays, Kevin Spacey is phenomenal here with an absolutely chilling performance. Playing a serial killer is always a rough one for actors, but we have plenty of great roles to applaud for pulling it off, and this is one of the best without a doubt.
I can’t get over how this movie is shot. The rain, the desaturation, the entire cinematography in the chase scene and the final scene. It molds anxiety into the audiences brain but isn’t exciting like an action scene. The colors keep that sense of despair and disgust, it’s just brilliant. The score is also one of the most effective aspects of the movie to establish the creepiness. I watched this in my room alone, and don’t think I didn’t look around every five minutes or so because of how the music was freaking me out. And then of course we have the strongest aspect here: the direction of the overarching plot and of each murder scene. Every one is so disgusting in its own way that you wanna look away, but the tension and mystery have been built up so well that you can’t help but watch, no matter how grotesque the scene is. Scenes and lines that felt throwaway on first watch blew my mind on rewatch, and that’s a testament of a brilliant crime/mystery thriller. Overall, Se7en is just a masterpiece. It’s overwhelmingly bleak and gross, but entirely watchable and super engaging. The performances are top notch, as well as the direction, and I can only imagine how blown away people were in 1995.
🔙Fight Club ♻️
🔜Mank ♻️