Saturday 5 December 2015

Road to Perdition (2002 Sam Mendes)

Hanks in tough (though not exactly nasty) mode amidst sea of acting talent encompassing Paul Newman, Daniel Craig, Jude Law, Stanley Tucci, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ciaran Hinds and the young Tyler Hoechlin. Adapted from the graphic novel by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner by David Self but owes everything to Mendes and Conrad Hall's visual style (the latter won his third Oscar posthumously) which references Edward Hopper:



One of the studio execs said of Conrad that you could take any frame and blow it up into art - that is particularly true of this film which is one of the best shot by anyone ever. (And Clint's Tom Stern is the chief lighting electrician, and must have been studying the master at work closely.) It also has a terrific Thomas Newman score. Sam's own favourite.

I particularly like the moment in the bank hold ups montage where we see Hanks trying to get into the car and we're forced to look at the very left corner of the screen to (try to) see what happens. The two key shots using reflections are outstanding, as is the Hanks machine-gunning finale shown with music but no sound.

Great editing too by Jill Bilcock (The Young Victoria, Moulin Rouge).

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