The Conversation

Another Friday another movie.

The Conversation starring Gene Hackman, Harrison Ford and John Cazale. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

This was just the type of movie that doesn't agree with me at all, I would say I am rather impatient at the best of times. So this movie was never going to be my cup of tea. The long zoom shot at the start just had my insides tying themselves in knots. All I could think about was pushing the camera mans finger down on the zoom button. It was for me a thrust-rating watch from start to finish.

It's definitely a movie you need to be paying 100% attention all the time, drift of for a second and the movie has left you by the side of road with no money for the bus. I found it difficult to interpret what each scene was about and how it was moving the story forward in anyway. I did understand some key plot points and times, but failed to see how most of the movie was driving this forward. I'm never usually a fan of movies that confuse you from the start as to what is going on, then leave all the answers until the end for the big climax.

I find these movies difficult to engage with, I found the lack of drive and tediously long scenes unutterable. I'm sure for the right sort of person they would love this movie, I'm sure its a very smart and complex movie that for the right audience it would be a fantastic watch. But for me I found all the characters boring and dull, I didn't feel connected at any point to any of them or what their story was. I think they spent to long trying to establish this guy as a surveillance expert and that well he has dull life, but forgot that we also have to like him.

There was no moment were I thought theres more to this guy than what were seeing, it was just relentless in the fact of pushing the audience to the extreme end of one part of character depth. I just felt we needed more from our main character to engage with.

The story just failed to grab me in any way, I just don't feel for me personally it just wasn't interesting enough. It was never going get my unwavering attention, it did this in a matter of minutes of the opening scene. From this I had to force myself to watch it, which you don't have to be a movie critic to know that this isn't a good thing. The scenes were just to long and a number of them I felt could have been cut out of the film.

Gene Hackmans character in many ways was a brilliantly crafted character, I could be made to believe that he was in actual fact a real character as they did really nail it on the head. He acted it out perfectly, but for me this was its stumbling fault. It was so well written and it was so well acted out that it just all became to much to watch. His character was a dull old man who's in the surveillance business. It all lacked any life to it, or well just any real drive. For me I felt like the film was driving around in circles, It didn't seem to be going anywhere and I just held no interest in it after about the first act.

Maybe I am letting modern cinema effect me too much as for as much as it shames me to say it, I miss my short to the point scenes and clear cuts.

Overall not a movie I would dare to watch again, I am still trying to get the films score out my head. Its driving me insane.