Review Wanted: Element of Crime, The: Criterion Collection
#2
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Olympia, WA
Posts: 2,421
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Excellent film
I just watched this film for the third time last night in the last 3 or 4 months, and I think it gets better each time. Some people feel the film is too slow, but its presented in a very gorgeous anamorphic transfer and shot almost exclusively in sepia, burnt orange, and brown tones with an occasional bright blue image thrown in to startle you.
It's about a European detective, who has lived abroad in Egypt for 13 years who returns back to Europe to investigate the murders of young girls by a serial murder. It's told in a flashback, and the detective relates this tale to the viewer after he has been put under hypnosis by his Egyptian therapist.
If you like dreamy surrealistic non-linear movies, this film will knock your socks off!
It's about a European detective, who has lived abroad in Egypt for 13 years who returns back to Europe to investigate the murders of young girls by a serial murder. It's told in a flashback, and the detective relates this tale to the viewer after he has been put under hypnosis by his Egyptian therapist.
If you like dreamy surrealistic non-linear movies, this film will knock your socks off!
#3
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: OFF-WORLD
Posts: 5,978
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Tony Block, you read my mind
Would make a good double bill with Insomnia also from Criterion - A Euro cops hunting killers lose it big timetheme night if you will.
Would make a good double bill with Insomnia also from Criterion - A Euro cops hunting killers lose it big timetheme night if you will.
#4
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Olympia, WA
Posts: 2,421
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally posted by jonathan.e
Tony Block, you read my mind
Would make a good double bill with Insomnia also from Criterion - A Euro cops hunting killers lose it big timetheme night if you will.
Tony Block, you read my mind
Would make a good double bill with Insomnia also from Criterion - A Euro cops hunting killers lose it big timetheme night if you will.
cheers, Tony Block
#5
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Update: BACK
Posts: 2,642
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
This DVD is about 1000 times better than the terrible VHS version I saw years ago. I've also watched EoC 3 or 4 times again since I bought the DVD, and it's better every time. It's about as close to "watching a book" as you can get, if you know what I'm saying.
While I agree that's it is somewhat surrealistic and non-linear, it's not overbearingly so that you say "wtf is going on" the whole time. While it is an intellectualist's film, its' story and flow are so compelling that it's accessible to a wider audience than you'd think. One of the best DVD transfers done yet, and at this point, I'd put it somewhere in my list of the top 20 greatest films ever made. Buy it.
While I agree that's it is somewhat surrealistic and non-linear, it's not overbearingly so that you say "wtf is going on" the whole time. While it is an intellectualist's film, its' story and flow are so compelling that it's accessible to a wider audience than you'd think. One of the best DVD transfers done yet, and at this point, I'd put it somewhere in my list of the top 20 greatest films ever made. Buy it.
#6
Member
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: ny
Posts: 100
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
"Element of Crime" is indeed terrific, and I didn't like it at all the 1st time I saw it (didn't hate it, but it left me cold)...it's odd in its pacing, strucutre,photography, but I think (after the 2nd viewing, when it kicked in immediately) it has one of the most intriguing, disturbing "future" visions I've seen, and if you stick with it you'll be rewarded...it looks cool, and has a full-length documentaryabout Von Trier on the disc as well, if you're a fan...I also think it's a better film than "Insomnia", which is darn good and would make a very good double feature, but EOC is extremely weird and unique...
#7
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Olympia, WA
Posts: 2,421
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Watch it with the subtitles on......
I know this sounds weird, but when you watch it with the subtitles on, it brings home the point even more that Fisher is relating the story to his therapist under hypnosis, and it also makes you question how acurate Fisher's retelling of the events is, due to the time and memory factor, also being under hypnosis, and finally the fact that Fisher is apparently seeing this therapist (psychiatrist?), because he is suffering from some (mental/emotional/psychiatric?) problem so how acurate is his vertsion of the events in the first place?
cheers, Tony Block
cheers, Tony Block
#8
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: I was here but I disappear
Posts: 8,407
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts