It seems even more pointless than usual in this
series of reviews to take on F.W. Murnau’s 1927 film Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, given how much has already been
written about it. So I’ll keep it brief.
WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
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The short version of the review is, if you
haven’t seen Sunrise, do yourself a
favour and go and watch it.
It’s easy to imagine that even say in the
1980s, humanity was hopelessly less capable and less sophisticated than we are
today. The ridiculous fashions and hair,
the barbaric non-genetic medicine, the dodgy racial politics... So, it’s a shock to see a 1927 film with such
self-evident style and ambition. Turns
out human beings were still pretty cool even back then.
Review continues below...
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The film contrasts city and country life but
having a city tourist lady attempt to seduce a married farmer in the
country. All the types of animals we see
in the first half have some counterpoint in the many types of vehicle we see in
the subsequent city half. The pigs that
appear in the city escape from a fair and get drunk on spilled wine in an
obvious perversion of nature. Mostly
it’s just cars, trams and lorries.
Perhaps Sunrise
tries to cram too much into its one hour and thirty-four minutes. You get highly symbolized scenes of the
illicit lovers, scenes of domestic life, satirical contrasts between country
and city ways, a murder plot, a sea journey and sea storm, slapstick sequences
and a love story. Then there are all the
special effects and virtuoso tracking shots.
It’s like Murnau is trying to cram everything the cinema can offer into
one film.
But who cares – go along for the ride – it’s exhilarating.
Personal Score: 8/10
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This is part of a series of film reviews where I give my comments on IMDB Top 250 films as a writer. The idea is that over time these posts will build into a wide-ranging writing resource.
For more details about the approach I've taken, including some important points about its strengths and weaknesses (I make no claims about my abilities as a film critic or even the accuracy of my comments... but I do stand by the value of a writer's notes on interesting films), see my introductory post here.
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