Here is a copy of my film review column that will appear in this months edition of the Huntingtonian over the film "Contagion".
Contagion ****
I love a movie that I want to watch again. I especially love a movie that I want to impress upon my friends to watch with me again. I mean I just walked out of this movie, and although I should wait about ten hours as a part of “film critic etiquette”, I feel obliged to encourage a good number of you to watch this enthralling film. With a stunning cast and a fairly decent plot, “Contagion” finds it’s way into the VIP room for aesthetically molded docudrama films with the likes of “Babel” and “Good Night and Good Luck”. I found this movie gripping in that it held my attention and heightened my senses with nothing more than intense dialogue and stunning plot thrills. I especially am impressed with the fact that, save for maybe four short electronic scores scattered around the film, the action was able to grasp at it’s audience without any kind of musical score. This goes to show that the film relied heavily on it’s actors, discourses, and rising action to carry the mood and the thrill making this each of those aspects more worthy of commendation.
For those of you who have not seen the film or heard anything about it, “Contagion” is an action/thriller about a virus that rapidly spreads around the world giving rise to extreme panic. The story follows five different characters and their individual involvement in the plague, showing their interweaving connection how their personal lives are affected. Essentially a more intense version of the movie “Babel” which I found the two to be vastly similar (Also if you haven’t seen “Babel” I encourage you to partake in that one as well). I particularly applaud the cast in this one. Unlike most characters in these kinds of films, their emotion emanated past the screen onto the audience causing us to feel fear, frustration, and loss. This could also be attributed to the authenticated style of the film with the realistic make-up and wardrobe, convincing picture, and the lack of a musical score.
The movie felt real making the problem extremely plausible giving birth to this theme of fear and how far it will take some people. In this film, we see that innate sense of survival being contrasted with psychotic behavior. I’d be brave enough to suggest that the virus could very well be comparable with fear in the way that it spreads and causes people to do wicked things and eventually die. I believe that to be the underlying motif of the story and I commend that message and encourage you, friends, to watch the film for yourselves. I’ll even go with you if you ask. I love films that I’d watch again with friends. Just don’t take my word for it.
-Jonathan Scales
Great review. I saw Contagion Saturday night and loved it. Such a good movie. I like how you pointed out the lack of a soundtrack for most of the movie. I noticed that too about halfway through and was surprised at how it was still able to keep my attention. I think thats pretty rare in Hollywood these days.
ReplyDeleteI think Contagion is kind of like Jaws in the way that Jaws made people afraid of beaches and sharks. In Contagion the sharks are germs, and the beaches are door handles, etc. They don't seem as deadly as sharks but they are.
It really messed with my mind too. People sneezing and coughing around me didn't used to bother me too much but now it does. The next morning at church the person next to me sneezed and I practically jumped out of my seat.
I know right. I feel the exact same way. It makes you afraid as well which goes back to that underlying theme affecting the audience heavily.
ReplyDelete