jean bernard parr

Awful, memes tropes cliches thick as falling snow. Sound mixing nightmare Dramatically,,, like drowning in syrup. Clunky as hell and limp wristed direction Then there's the ENG Atmos or lack of it Where is the newsgathering gunsmoke? Drippy as the flock wallpaper

Well speaking as a dubbing editor, I found the music scores relentless drone overlaying the dialogue hugely irritating. This is the zeitgeist now in crime dramas and it drives me up the wall. The" is this a dagger" soliliquy was made a nonsense. Drone music is now the sound supercliche of the epoch we are living in. You get the impression that its not even music directors who final mix it. Its left to the dubbing mixer ...who may be clueless about spaces for words. Equally, some music directors want their score to tell the audience what to feel all the way through, so the music is under the dialogue all the time didactically trying to control the mood.The music wrecked it for me, complete sabotage of everyones talent

Given that this production is firmly realised in the horror genre, it delivers at least in two of Aristotle's rules for drama, unity of place and action. Time is unsatisfactorily foreshortened between the crime, and the execution ( sic) of The Revenge. I thought it an accomplished work exciting pity and fear in equal measure.

Claustrophobic interiors, dialogue blunt, no humour, unevenly paced, suspect art direction ( the clumsy fencing around the al fresco lunch scene) and a failure to rack up tension a la Poetics of Aristotle. Women are relegated to a dependency on male preoccupations that negate family values, ie lawkeeping, honour, settling old scores, and the precarious lifestyle that goes with it. The baddies look wild and roguish enough, but the continuity element of story telling does not yield here a tangible conflict of interests. We go uneasily from willow pattern teacups to close quarter gunplay without much of a build up. (Compare with "Open Range" where tea sets play a vital part in contrasting frontierness with civilisation.) There is an abruptness to the editing which sometimes doesnt make sense dramatically, for example, the courtroom scenes which have the character of inserts. Its a shame the female leads have not much greater purpose than to be seen clinging to their menfolk. That, in an era where women were as adept as men in shooting skills, given the need for self defence, is the films biggest disappointment.

Too many talking heads, unfortunately it's got a rural soapy look. The lead actresses hair is profoundly irritating. The wide shot mid shot cu is formulaic and the direction lacks conviction and daring. There's not enough full blooded motivation from the main protagonists. Things are not helped by the didactic droney music track. The art direction is brilliant as is location and interiors

Olivier's interpretation is mechanistic and dalek like. The musicality of the lines lies buried in his relentless staccato delivery Practically unwatchable

It has a very sensual look the quietism that enfuses this narrative is almost totally alien to a western audience but it allows you to dwell on the inevitability of the power play that unfold like chess moves. I think it's hugely underrated. These are talented players, at the top of their art