Solidly entertaining crime caper that is far more plot-driven than it should have been. It is unsophisticated regarding the nature of revenge, human greed and gullibility because it is more concerned to fool the audience with its twisting plot than present coherent, believable characters.
That you are, indeed, fooled provides the main source of pleasure to be had from this entertainment, as many of the characters are not what they seem; while others are what they do not seem. However, this fact is not used to explore the true nature of con-men and their inherent parasitism.
Another layer of meaning also remains unexplored in that the film begins with likenesses of its director and writer. This reflects the fact that the film itself was cast, directed and performed - as the scam presented here is - not only for the benefit of the man being conned but also for ours. This is all good, clean fun but ever so superficial since the characters never truly come alive.
Not as subtle as The Grifters or Paper Moon, but the style is pretty and the Ragtime music catchy. Nevertheless, the decided lack of thematic content never really allows the audience to truly engage with the drama emotionally.
Saturday 2 October 2010
Sting
(1973)
60%
Copyright © 2010 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com/) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.
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Science:
Sleep of Reason:
The dream of reason produces monsters. Imagination deserted by reason creates impossible, useless thoughts. United with reason, imagination is the mother of all art and the source of all its beauty.
(1746-1828), Spanish painter. Caption to Caprichos, number 43, a series of eighty etchings completed in 1798, satirical and grotesque in form.
Humans & Aliens:
I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.
(circa 190-159 BC), Roman dramatist. Chremes, in The Self-Tormentor [Heauton Timorumenos], act 1, scene 1.
Führerprinzip:
One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves… There is no organ of conciliation or mediation interposed between the leader and the people, nothing in fact but the apparatus - in other words, the party - which is the emanation of the leader and the tool of his will to oppress. In this way the first and sole principle of this degraded form of mysticism is born, the Führerprinzip, which restores idolatry and a debased deity to the world of nihilism.
(1913-60), French-Algerian writer & philosopher. The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt: New York: Vintage Books, (1984; page 182.)
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