Sin City... the old ultra-violence

[flexagon]

This weekend was The Weekend of Chores. I had a lot of fun going out with the peeps on Saturday night though (and saw nothing wrong with most of our conversation... vulva is not a dirty word... though perhaps the bit about the ben-wa balls was a little educational for a family restaurant).

After a group dinner hiddenbear and I went on to see Sin City, which is what I wanted to post about... see, when we had stumbled out into the street I asked hiddenbear what he thought of it and he said I loved it. And the next day I asked HLM, who had seen it in Indiana, what he thought of it, and he said I liked it.. But, perhaps because I'm a girl dame, I just can't sum it up in three words like that. I had very complicated reactions, ranging from fascination with the cinematography to disgust at the many things that were disgusting (like the 'dog eating a person alive' scene. Yes, I chose that moment to look away). I don't think I would have found the same story nearly as interesting in graphic novel format, but when explored in film it became much more unusual/interesting and had an almost hallucinatory intensity.

So the intensity itself is the first thing I didn't know what to make of. It brought to mind all the things veterans say about combat: it's much more intense than normal life, your decisions matter more, and many things have life-and-death importance. It leaves a lot of people feeling understandably empty about civilian life, in which few things matter so much, and I felt just the edge of that feeling brush me as I looked around at the normal (and so very realistically colored) people on the train after leaving the theater. The other very warlike theme in the movie, besides all the guns and violence, was the trend of powerful, mostly-male protagonists who were all about sacrificing themselves so that other mostly-female people could have decent lives. That's very Vietnam vet, and it made me think about my dad a lot.... especially Marv, perhaps the most violent character of all but who had moments of heartbreaking gentleness when he knew his mental problems might have made him confused. And especially the old cop in prison who only kept going because of letters from a young woman. The bad guys in this movie were overdone and the women should mostly have been freezing to death, but the good guys were all too realistic if you know a certain kind of person who's broken in a certain way.

In short: beautiful, nasty and heartbreaking. Not the best movie to go to sleep alone after, though that is exactly what I did. I loved the black-and-white effect with just a few things colored in, which was done more boldly than in Schindler's List and more effectively (in some ways) than in Pleasantville. I do wish I hadn't read the review warning me that the spurting white blood looked unfortunately like pigeon poop in one scene, because you know... the movie got to that scene and it did and I just laughed. The cartoonlike violence was a blessing though, pigeon poop or no... If it had been even a bit more realistic I don't think I would have made it through at all.

Comments

[artana.livejournal.com]

I thought it was very typical of Miller. The really cheesy lines that were perfect for something so reminiscent of the black and white genre it was copying, the good guys who were--as you said--broken in some fundamental ways, and the odd bad guys who there was a bit of deeper meaning to if you really really think about it.

I agree with it being an amazing film.

[bluechromis.livejournal.com]

In short: beautiful, nasty and heartbreaking.

Exactly. It left me feeling sad and discombobulated, but it was an amazing piece of cinematography, and some of the characters were so touching.