The Conversation
Francis in the 70s… wowza
Really enjoyed this, went in fairly blind so pretty shocked at how genuinely terrifying the last 30 mins are. Not one I started expecting there to be any resemblance to a jump scare😭all the technical work is brilliant, it obviously sounds amazing, really liked the distorted effect on the parts of the conversation (say that again) big Gene hadn’t mixed yet. Also loved the camera direction, the wider, slow shots were insane, particularly the hotel scene. Also loved the slow burn personally, think the pay off makes it well worth it.
Gene is a master in this, played the paranoia so so well and his demeanour overall suits the tone to a tee. Pretty funny that I’ve just come off an incidental mini Gene retrospective and his performance in French Connection and Enemy of the state look so camp compared to this now lmaoo. RIP king
Harrison Ford pre Star Wars is a trip as well, heard he was trying to play his character gay after I’d seen this and it worked bc at one point I thought to myself “I wonder if Harrison Ford’s character is gay”. Could be notable. Hope he reads this.
Also a drive by Doxxing is insanity how have I not seen anyone pick up on this in the other reviews??
FFC as usual brilliant, but not quite on par with his big three purely because the plot in comparison is far weaker, doesn’t have the same legendary staying power as whilst Gene is top, Godfather (x2) and apocalypse both have at least 3-4 all time greats at the top of their game. Cazale is here too but he’s in it wayyyy less than I was expecting and it also loses half a star for having 30 seconds of Duvall instead of a solid 15 mins at least (I did gasp when I saw him though, him and his beautiful half bald head)
Also the pacing for a sub 2 hour film is not great, but like I said the slow burn pays off so this isn’t anything more than a minor gripe. I can’t see the boring shouts, pacing issues and all, as the score alone makes this attention grabbing, and I loved all the cuts back to the tapes. Whatever you think of the first 2 acts, the hotel scene and the Duvall reveal make it all worth it, and I also enjoy the ‘party’ scene too, really get to see Gene start to unravel. All the little character work moments he gets in the first 30 are appreciated by me too and the attention to detail FFC and Hackman took pay off to nerds like me.
Strong 9/10