Shutter Island

Saw Shutter Island yesterday. There were some very unusual and disorienting switches in camera position during the ferry ride. First it showed the two actors from the left and then from the right, and back and forth a couple of times more. Having read the book, I wondered if this was supposed to be some sort of clue, but I couldn’t work anything out.  I didn’t care for the fast panning shots early on, either. The scene where the guard says “and on the right…” and the camera swivels like a head “and on the left…” ditto.  There were a couple of other instances like that that just pulled me out of the movie and made me overly aware of the camera.

It seemed to settle down after that, or at least I stopped noticing it. The film sagged heavily in the middle, but there were some very nice performances by Patricia Clarkson and Ted Levine. Ben Kingsley steals the film, I think. DiCaprio, not so much, and Ruffalo, it’s like he’s not really there, he leaves so little impression. Michelle Williams is quite good, too, and Max von Sydow has a fun role. It wasn’t a terrible movie, and better than the book, I’d say. I’d give it a B-minus. I loved the scene between Ted Levine (Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs, also from Monk) and DiCaprio in the jeep. While discussing the inherent violence of man, Levine’s character says something to the effect: “If I were to lean over and bite your eye out, do you think you could stop me?”

Among the trailers: a remake of the British movie Death at a Funeral that seems close to a shot for shot duplicate, with a few exceptions. There’s even one actor who appears in both versions (Peter Dinklage). The original was pretty funny. It was directed by Frank Oz (of Muppets fame) and featured Keeley Hawes from Ashes to Ashes and Alan Tudyk from Firefly.

Iron Man 2 looks like it could be fun, and I’m really looking forward to Ghost Writer, which stars Pierce Brosnan as the British prime minister, directed by Roman Polanski. Finally, I think Wall Street 2 could be a lot of fun, and it features Carey Mulligan, who Dr. Who fans know from the excellent episode Blink and who starred in An Education.

You couldn’t drag me to see Clash of the Titans.