this is an excellent film which i enjoyed a lot. It's clever but with a lot of heart. i recommend highly!
The cast do well with potentially very difficult material. It is breathtakingly funny and the musical numbers connect well.
It's one of the most visually considered & just generally gorgeous films made since the turn of the century. It's difficult for me to think of a better debut feature made in the last 30 years. AB has an incredible strong authorial voice - it's easy to appreciate the film a great deal just as a technical achievement - but it's all the better for wearing its obvious craft quite lightly.
I've seen the film described as an homage or a pastiche, which I think is not correct. AB excels at giving psychological depth and nuance to the women in this film - who appear initially to be recognisable types, but who are afforded a rounded inner life, to an extent not seen often in modern cinema. The visuals recall 70s sexploitation, but the craft and techniques recall the best of an earlier vintage - it owes as much to the 30s as it does to the 70s. To some extent what i like about the film is how it gives archetypes of characters from the 70s the sensitive and intelligent treatment earlier directors gave their own heroines.
That's my take anyway. I recommend it highly. I think the reputation film has suffered from being seen as a homage, rather than the start of something new. I think this perception will change in the future!
The cast do well with potentially very difficult material. It is breathtakingly funny and the musical numbers connect well.
It's one of the most visually considered & just generally gorgeous films made since the turn of the century. It's difficult for me to think of a better debut feature made in the last 30 years. AB has an incredible strong authorial voice - it's easy to appreciate the film a great deal just as a technical achievement - but it's all the better for wearing its obvious craft quite lightly.
I've seen the film described as an homage or a pastiche, which I think is not correct. AB excels at giving psychological depth and nuance to the women in this film - who appear initially to be recognisable types, but who are afforded a rounded inner life, to an extent not seen often in modern cinema. The visuals recall 70s sexploitation, but the craft and techniques recall the best of an earlier vintage - it owes as much to the 30s as it does to the 70s. To some extent what i like about the film is how it gives archetypes of characters from the 70s the sensitive and intelligent treatment earlier directors gave their own heroines.
That's my take anyway. I recommend it highly. I think the reputation film has suffered from being seen as a homage, rather than the start of something new. I think this perception will change in the future!