Se7en

IMAX 30 Year Anniversary Still the absolute best ever and I’m currently floating back to my car as a cold winter storm brews, not sure how you ever top this from a thriller/vibes perspective. When it comes to various transfers for 4K UHD and restorations in general there is a ton of discourse on what looks better or which ones are worth getting according to physical media collectors. Of course I’m viewing this newly restored version in the best possible way so it’s hard to get the true home video sense, I did think the saturation and color grading were phenomenal. Dark pockets felt so crisply highlighted against the harsh yellow and green that Fincher is obsessed with. Seeing the reaction of a packed theater to this film was exactly the experience I was hoping for. It was clearly a mix of many long time obsessive fans like myself and people who’d never experienced the full vision besides maybe hearing some lines of dialogue in pop culture. There was a point toward the end where you could see people turn to one another in shock, slight unsettling laughter or just like general disapproving head shakes which was amazing to me. Se7en was one of those films I always imagined what I’d be like to be in that theater during its premiere in 1995 and to be among the flabbergasted people walking out, it will never be the real thing without a time machine but this no exaggeration was a dream come true. More perfect than perfect, immaculate construction in every facet. You can smell these mildew stained sets through the screen, every scrap of paper or condemnable apartment is the most authentic version you’ll ever find on film. Even the little cups of coffee they drink just looked like they grabbed them out of someone’s hand who was already standing in the rain. I love this film so much and all the deep dives people have done on this deeply allegorical, foreboding masterpiece of relentless doom fighting with the purpose to exist at all.