So, I decided to rent Touch of Evil from Amazon, one of my three this month, having read that it is one of the greats from the history of film-making, despite having been a B-flick of sorts (although it won awards at the time in Europe). I agree with everyone that the cinematography is fantastic: the lighting is very special, and the way Welles positions the characters and moves them around the frame is wonderful. But at the moment I can’t get over how muddled the plot and dialogue are: I just found it very annoying not being able to hear what everyone is saying. Maybe I need to give it another chance.
One movie I won’t be giving another chance is Jaws 2, the other movie I watched this week. Total rubbish. It seems as though they simply took cut scenes from the first movie and put them together randomly: simply terrible, despite Rod Sheider’s noble efforts. It turns out to be quite easy to tell a good director from a bad one; Spielberg’s effort actually has plot development and and dramatic tension. Don’t bother with the sequel, watch the first one again.
