A bit of a departure for this weeks Tuesday Night is Film Night, out goes the pink & fluffy rom-com, chick flicks and in comes a gripping drama;
127 Hours
The film is based on the true story of Aron Ralston, who sets off into the wilds of Utah, to go canyoneering. Alone. Without telling anyone where he has gone. This is fine, he's done it before, he is experienced. What he doesn't figure on, is slipping into a huge crevice, with a massive boulder, that wedges his arm solid.
Stuck, alone and with no real hope of escape, we follow Aron and his struggle to survive the impossible.
So, how does Danny Boyle, the director, fill 94 minutes of film, with just a story, of a bloke stuck down a hole for 5 plus days? (Hence the title; 127 Hours).
Well, and here's one of the positives to the film, it is beautifully shot. Some of the camera work is stunning. One scene early on, see's Aron stuck fast and the camera pulls back in one long sequence, pulling back out of the rock, up into the sky, drawing in the full panoramic expanse of desolate dessert, that Aron is alone in the middle of.
If you are unaware of what Aron does to get free, I'm not going to tell you. Needless to say, there is some gore, but it isn't gratuitous, it is necessary in the re-telling of the story, but it is done in context and sufficiently graphic enough to shock.
OK, he cuts his arm off!
Leading up to this pivotal moment, we see various flashbacks as Aron dreams, then hallucinates as he is stuck in his hole, with dwindling water supplies. Kept company by his video camera and thoughts. Again, these flashbacks are well shot and integrate with the "live action" very well, but you need to maintain concentration, so as not to confuse reality, with the dream sequences.
All in all, it's a good film, based on a remarkable story. There could have been at the end to fill in some gaps and round off the story happily, but other than that, not a bad movie at all. The word that best describes it is; gripping.
Enjoy.
No comments:
Post a Comment