enthalpy

Sunday, September 26, 2004


Found a pretty cool movie blog. I really like Wayne's assessment of The Last Picture Show.
The production decision that separated The Last Picture Show from the pack, and really allowed it to be a "classic," was when they decided to shoot it in black and white. What better way to show the despair and hopelessness than to take all the non-gray hues out of the visuals. Cybill would've looked much prettier and I may have been more forgiving.

I'm reminded of what a videographer told me once, about why we tend to be more affected by black and white photographs than we are by color pictures. When we view a B&W photo, our brain doesn't have to process all that silly color information, and the core meaning of the image is much more apparent. That's why this film is so compelling. A color version would've been completely boring and faded into obscurity.
I'd have to agree that Cybill Shepard's performance was unmemorable (except for the swimming pool scene), but Bogdanovich obviously knew what he was doing.



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