This was a very... peculiar film. Very good, very intriguing, but strange. The film style was very unique, almost surreal in some places especially paired with the weird music. I enjoyed watching it, and in any case, I had a good time observing the film style of Sally Potter for my film class. This a seriously posh movie only for the most artsy of film viewers, but I was able to follow along and enjoy it alright. It was very cyclical, surprising, amusing, and fun. I feel like I may have even grown as a person a little bit after seeing this. It certainly was a very important feminist film.
Potter makes some very obvious stylistic choices throughout the movie that I noticed. She uses a ton of smash cuts; like, a ton. I jumped more than once just by the suddenness. The whole movie seemed to be tinted white; there was hardly a dark moment. The screen was always very bright, whether it was in the desert or the freezing cold. It was always like the brightness was turned up to one hundred. I also noticed a lot of devotion to sound and close attention to the sounds of objects/props. It was very obvious, and almost annoying if you paid close attention. All the characters were very real and the actors very good at their roles. Everyone felt fully like themselves. I was very convinced by the acting.
I laughed at the most unexpected times; when Orlando suddenly looks right at the camera and breaks the fourth wall in the wackiest way, when those man went to get more and more men in an effort to wake him up, when he wakes only to whine about women in his emo poety way; this movie surprised me by how entertaining it ended up being.
I laughed at the most unexpected times; when Orlando suddenly looks right at the camera and breaks the fourth wall in the wackiest way, when those man went to get more and more men in an effort to wake him up, when he wakes only to whine about women in his emo poety way; this movie surprised me by how entertaining it ended up being.
I loved the way Tilda Swindon was cast as a man, and the character changed over time to be a woman (or something like that, it was hard to tell), same person different sex and all. Her acting was very good; she played a man like a man, so much so that I forgot that the actor was female, and changed very well to play the female Orlando (or rather, Orlando with boobs), differently to be feminine but not a different character entirely. It was a lot of fun to watch this movie go on in confusion until the end, when it all was beautifully revealed. It ended with Death and ended with Birth in a beautiful, backwards cycle. I could really feel the feminist ideas Sally Potter was known for, about women's hardships and the selfishness of men and how they don't really do anything right, and how man and women aren't all that different and yet women are still treated more poorly. I loved this film, and I definitely plan on watching it again. Man, am I glad I decided to impulse watch this.
Warnings for Orlando: some nudity, some weird stuff and a few unintentional death scares