Early in Psycho, Marion Crane, just prior to her departure from Phoenix, is in her apartment tentatively gathering items for her trip. On her bed is an envelope full of money, which is coercively isolated in the composition. In this moment nothing in the frame matters but the money. The bedspread, the layout of the room, Marion’s position in it—it’s all decoration for the issue at hand: that she’s becoming compromised by temptation.
Avatar is characterized by such decoration, but on an immeasurably more comprehensive scale. So much consideration goes into every corner of the frame (at least for the CGI portions) that the film is very capably a marvel. But this decoration, in all its pomp and circumstance, fails to distract us from the fact that there’s no money on the bed.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: IMAX 3-D
27 Dec 2009 11:56 AM | Comments (2)
Your observation reminds me that, no matter what new technology or gimmick, no one can reproduce the magic artistry of the Looney Tunes from the 50’s. That brilliant talent has been lost to the simple passing of time.
I thought Avatar was…small potatoes.
marky
29 December 2009
6:53 PM