Wednesday, 29 July 2015

Once Upon a Time in America

You can't do much better than 'Once Upon a Time in America' for a midweek film epic. Sergio Leone has such a style of film-making that makes every second feel pivotal to the experience, it was hard taking my eyes off this gorgeous film, even over its 220 minute run-time. Long pauses and quieter moment are saturated with a soundtrack that has compliments the film perfectly. There is a nostalgic and haunting resonance to the music that crawls inside your mind as you watch the characters look over mementos and stories of their past, and their history is often covered in blood. The story centres around the lives of some street hoods who make it big during the prohibition period. We see them starting off as kids up until their hair turns grey and the changes can be heart-breaking to see.

Everything is glued together by some really excellent scenes of grand violence or mischievous comedy. But my favourite moment by far involves a little boy and a cake topped with whipped cream, it's not even hugely important to the plot, but for character development, the scene had an almost holy quality to it which was beautiful to watch; moments like that just don't happen anymore in cinema.

Some consider this to be Lenoe's masterpiece. While I would struggle to argue why this is superior to The Good, The Bad an The Ugly or Once Upon a Time in the West, it is a difference kind a masterpiece and almost achieves everything it sets out to do.

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