Getting confused with all these damn Ke(i/e)fers.
We all know the story. What’s important is how Friedkin presents it. At first, I was skeptical. Thrust immediately into an all too glossy set, an all too pristine environment, with all too smooth characters, I worried this would feel like straight-to-streaming slop. I needn’t have worried. Its single location and bare-bones professionalism leave so much fucking space for the actors to act. Friedkin’s tasteful direction and Sutherland’s bookending monologues sealed the deal for me, his performance is pretty magical.
The final speech had me scratching my head. It seemed at odds with the film’s stringent siding against Queeg. The fact that it’s stayed with me is probably indicative of its genius. We finally leave the courtroom, the complicity spreads. It’s not just those contained courtroom, the small world Friedkin has dutifully rendered, but those outside of it too. It’s not a clean break and, despite the slightly troubling framing, was probably a wise decision.
Friedkin fans shouldn’t fear, this is a more than graceful bowing out from a legend.
Getting confused with all these damn Ke(i/e)fers.
We all know the story. What’s important is how Friedkin presents it. At first, I was skeptical. Thrust immediately into an all too glossy set, an all too pristine environment, with all too smooth characters, I worried this would feel like straight-to-streaming slop. I needn’t have worried. Its single location and bare-bones professionalism leave so much fucking space for the actors to act. Friedkin’s tasteful direction and Sutherland’s bookending monologues sealed the deal for me, his performance is pretty magical.
The final speech had me scratching my head. It seemed at odds with the film’s stringent siding against Queeg. The fact that it’s stayed with me is probably indicative of its genius. We finally leave the courtroom, the complicity spreads. It’s not just those contained courtroom, the small world Friedkin has dutifully rendered, but those outside of it too. It’s not a clean break and, despite the slightly troubling framing, was probably a wise decision.
Friedkin fans shouldn’t fear, this is a more than graceful bowing out from a legend.
