After watching RL, I checked out some other reviews that mostly described this film as Hitchcockian. Here is the difference: Hitchcock would build tension and suspense throughout the film to the point that you were moved closer to the edge of your seat as the film progressed. One is never quite certain how things will proceed.
Kahn creates a film that just filled me with a different sort of tension; annoyance. This is a lot of "build" for very little payoff, and by the time the payoff occurs I was more annoyed at the movie than on the edge of my seat. The constant driving just frustrated me even further.
I promised myself I wouldn't forget how painful the first 30 minutes were, no matter how things turned out after that. Indeed, while RL clocks in at 100 minutes it feels more like three hours.
A very tense thriller that mostly works very well. Jean Pierre Darroussin is very chilling as the husband, the sort of man you hate at first but slowly begin to like. I just felt that there were some pacing problems in the first half hour. I think it needed ten minutes or so shaving off it to really work.
Jean-Pierre Darroussin's character was such a jerk to his wife, especially when the wife is played by the gorgeous Carole Bouquet. Red Lights, with it's mysterious plot and steady pace, shows the common male paranoia. I don't know if the end brought justice or if it made me happy, I just hope the husband will start being nice to his family and quit drinking.
8/10 This film has more on its agenda than mere thrills and supense, although those are plentiful. A Hitchcockian thriller in this sense, they don't make them like this any more (at least not in Hollywood), Red Lights relates the troubles of an overly domesticated man trying to regain his manhood and then some. But if there's a moral to this story it's that you should be careful what you wish for . . . or rather, you should be careful how you go about getting what you wish for. I was never sure where this film was going, which made it both interesting and entertaining; interesting being the key word, as this movie might make you rethink a few of your lifestyle choices, if not scare you into changing them; and that is a welcome change onto itself.
MCT:June 22, 2008
MCT:May 8, 2008
MCT:May 8, 2008
