Film 3 (8/23/2005)

Miller's Crossing

Director: Joel Coen

Recommended by: D_Davis

Has Fentablar seen this before?: No.

What a fantastic film is Miller's Crossing. Quite frankly, I was nearly floored by its all-around robust quality. This film is rather capable of serving as an example of films which do not make any mistakes. I have not seen enough by the Coen brothers to say this with absolute certainty (yet) but if Miller's Crossing has anything to say about it, the Coen brothers are among the elite film-makers of our day.

The performances in this film are about as close to "bar none" status as I can think of, but the true crown jewel of this future classic is its dialogue. The Coen brothers crisply emulated the verbiage of the late 1920's; no lines in this film are cliche, though (because of the vintage lexicon) they did leave plenty of room for bumbling error - which is why the character performances impress me so much. The players in Miller's Crossing allowed the dialogue to flow through them as light through a pane of glass. Almost breathtaking, in my humble opinion.

As written works go, the script is rather extraordinary as well. Forget the vintage dialogue and [perfectly executed] playful banter, this script has most all the great writing elements within and it handles those elements with precision. In particular, Tom's line early on in the film, "we do things for a reason"; followed in the film's final scene with his question for Leo, "do you always know why you do things later?". Outstanding.

Fans of The Godfather may never forgive me for saying so but as gangster movies go, films like Miller's Crossing make me wonder why, by comparison, The Godfather receives so much acclaim.

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Plot Effectiveness: 5/5. Not a single drop spilled. The method by which the plot is carried out keeps the viewer enthralled and, when the film is over, doesn't leave you asking any questions - at least not questions like, "what the hell happened?".

Cinematography/Shot Selection: 4/5. No question here, Joel Coen knows what he's doing with a camera.

Overall Acting: 5/5. I believe this was covered in the body of the review.

Score/Soundtrack: 4/5. While watching this film, I felt that the score was the only element which sufficiently lacked. Then, they went to Miller's Crossing for the second time, during which an Italian canter was sung. That sold me.

OVERALL RATING: 4.5/5

~Fentablar~