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| Foster's face prior to the slaughter in 30 Days of Night (2007) |
Regardless of what I might or might not think of the movie,
30 Days of Night (2007) has some striking imagery that leaves me quite in awe.
It might fall prey to the bug directors caught with shooting faces up close and
the oxymoron “steadi-cam” method, but when the film is good, I think it’s
really good. The opening shots such an example, as well as, the symbolism of Eben
and Billy (Josh Hartnett and Manu Bennett) looking out at the sun as it goes
down—the harbinger of doom that is indicative of what will soon befall their
town—providing us with that wealth of image that well presented to the viewer.
This comes after the finding of cell phones burned to black
ash, found by Eben and Billy who are a bit befuddled by this “camp fire”. Ben
Foster’s grizzled face, full of wounded trauma and haunted torment, is the very
first image echoing to us what will soon happen to Barrow, Alaska. He looks at
the distant ship which brought him to Alaska, and he knows what he must do (not
that he won’t soon be discarded by his “authority”) and those who will perish
by his orders and actions.
Yeah, those are some really stunning photos. I actually like the film quite a bit and think it's better than the majority of other recent vampire flicks I've seen.
ReplyDeleteI much prefer the vampires of this film compared to the romanticized versions most of the time. I'm a definite Dracula Lugosi guy, no doubt, but I like when vampires are ferocious and don't fuck around. I think the location and how its peculiar dynamic just emphasizes extra peril does work in its favor.
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