I have to confess I was not overly impressed with Public Enemies. In fairness, it was mostly down to the choices Mann made in filming the work – the high definition cameras and the insistence on shakey hand held movement. You might argue that it was a choice designed to place us in the real world of the Great Depression – to put us on the streets with Dillinger and immerse us in his world rather than the sanitised grandiose version of the 1930’s that typically finds its way on to our screens. This ignores one fundamental fact about Mann’s film making: it is no less grandiose or fantastic than those myths of times past. Mann is a film maker who works best exploring the dynamics of a masculine ideal that never existed. His male characters are drawn in the mold of a classic image that never actually existed.
I'll bet Pacino ordered the Large Ham. Overdone. VERY LOUDLY!
Filed under: Movies, Television | Tagged: action movies, ali, collateral, director, film, guns, heat, john dillinger, male, masculine, masculinity, men, michael mann, modern man, Movies, public enemies, themes, violence | Leave a comment »
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