Posted
9/26/2004 11:12:00 AM
by Douglas
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.