Favorite New Films: Cloverfield
posted by The Joe
The ongoing trend of using new video technology to play to the same rules that traditional film has followed for decades is quite disheartening. This relatively new medium has an altogether different style which could make for an art-form in and of itself, but it’s been few and far between when filmmakers actually take advantage of this. While the low-budget mumblecore movement has started a tiny trend (which has yet to hold its ground), David Lynch’s Inland Empire and Michael Mann’s Collateral and Miami Vice have been the only high profile films to embrace the video look. And then comes Cloverfield.
While The Blair Witch Project was the first major motion picture to come up with the idea to use the intimacy and realism of consumer video to give a new spin on tired, familiar genres, its basic horror idea was nowhere near the epic scale of Cloverfield, which delves into just what might be happening to all those poor folks running for their lives on the streets during a Godzilla raid. That basic concept alone is worth viewing for, as the level of panic, confusion, and destruction in this type of atmosphere is nothing that cinema’s shown us before. The shaky camerawork, sometimes auto-focused and not even caring if what on-screen is framed right, lends a great service to the telling of this disaster the handful of characters find themselves trapped in.
Not to discuss the plot - though I can’t see how anything could really be spoiled, as it’s a very short, simple film at heart - but the small downside of the film is the inclusion of a very familiar romance tale which propels the characters through the city, something that comes off as fake and unnecessary when surrounded by such a new perspective of another genre. The giant monster tale being spun is just too interesting to be away from for as long as it sometimes is . . . especially with how jaw-droppingly awesome the creature really is. But this is a small quibble, as it rarely effects the overall experience.
With Brian DePalma’s YouTube war film Redacted released last year and George Romero’s new zombie flick Diary of the Dead coming our way next month, it looks like the high-concept-with-new-perspective trend is finally on its way, and I’m betting that Cloverfield will most likely rest near the top of it for quite some time.
Cloverfield Trailer: