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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Sep. 13th, 2014 08:41 pmThe BFI Southbank were showing this for reasons that escape my knowledge, other than possibly they're having a feast of early German cinema, which is a perfectly good reason, and I am always down for German expressionism.
Now the pre-film blurb did warn us that it was deliberately stagey and unrealistic, which was probably a good idea, because I get the idea of stylized theatricality but this was hyper-stylized. My problem was more with the acting than with the sets, because Caligari was so dirty and disgusting that I couldn't believe that anyone would go "yes, of course sir, do carry on," and Franzis is almost as bad, although he does at least calm down later on.
Actually, one of the amazing things is, given how fake and whatever the high-tech version of soft gauzy focus is a lot of Hollywood films make their leads look, how amazingly real and touchable the characters look a film make 95 years ago.
( Spoilers for a film made in 1920 )
Definitely worth seeing, but yes, advanced warning that it's deliberately odd.
Now the pre-film blurb did warn us that it was deliberately stagey and unrealistic, which was probably a good idea, because I get the idea of stylized theatricality but this was hyper-stylized. My problem was more with the acting than with the sets, because Caligari was so dirty and disgusting that I couldn't believe that anyone would go "yes, of course sir, do carry on," and Franzis is almost as bad, although he does at least calm down later on.
Actually, one of the amazing things is, given how fake and whatever the high-tech version of soft gauzy focus is a lot of Hollywood films make their leads look, how amazingly real and touchable the characters look a film make 95 years ago.
( Spoilers for a film made in 1920 )
Definitely worth seeing, but yes, advanced warning that it's deliberately odd.
