01.29.10
Metropolis
I saw the German 1927 silent film Metropolis by director Fritz Lang at the Film Noir event hosted at Paper Tiger last night. I have to say what I liked most about the movie were the visuals, probably because the story has been recycled several thousand times over the past 80 years. The visuals, on the other hand, are something you don’t see outside that era of film. The dark ring constantly vignetting the screen, and the contrasty lighting with all these elaborate mechanical sets. It’s almost like the technilogical limitations with which they were working contributed some unique aspect to the style of the film. Above is a screen grab from the beginning of the film, drones on their way to and from their hellish 10 hour work days. I love the symmetry.
