Wednesday, July 30, 2008
A&E View from the Couch: The Counterfeiters and more
Posted by David Lee Simmons on Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Check out this week's View from the Couch DVD-review column by Matt Brunson of Charlotte's Creative Loafing. This week Matt takes a look at The Counterfeiters, Doomsday, The Inglorious Bastards and Vampyr (which I unfairly chastised Matt last week for not having reviewed).
We're grateful that Matt got around to Vampyr; he likey!
There are images here that are staggering in their artistry: the shadow of a one-legged servant separating from its owner and taking off on its own; a ferryman wielding a scythe next to a fog-encrusted lake; the ultimate fate of the doctor, undone by (spirit-assisted) machinery even more imposing than the wheels and cogs encountered by Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times; and, most famously, the POV shots that find a prematurely boxed Gray witnessing the activities occurring just above the glass window on his coffin.
The Counterfeiters was that rare bird in that it was one of the few Best Foreign Language Film nominees to come through Atlanta, and if you missed it, you should grab the DVD. Here's one reason why:
The Counterfeiters is at its best when it tries to color in these shades of morality, whether it's in major confrontations or minor moments of inner conflict, as when one of the guilt-ridden prisoners finds a picture of his young son among a stack of belongings dumped on his desk. At some point, the guilt of what they're doing becomes as painful as captivity itself.
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