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Movie of the Week #24 - The Silence of the Lambs
Next up is The Silence of the Lambs from 1991 starring Jodie Foster. The movie won five major academy awards for Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Picture.
Besides any thoughts on this movie, what did you think of Jodie Foster's performance in this? Are you familiar with Thomas Harris' novel or the other movies about Hannibal Lector?
The rest of the schedule for April is:
- 15th: Run Lola Run
- 22nd: Aliens
- 29th: Fargo
I watched this for the first time in 2020. I had experienced a lot of the film through osmosis, the snake sound Hopkins makes, it puts it's lotion on it's skin or else it gets the hose again, and so on.
I was completely blown away by it. It's a masterpiece filled with tension. The thing that struck me the most about it were the close-ups, which I later learned are referred to as "Jonathan Demme close-ups." It's pretty incredible how something so simple as an actor making eye contact with a camera lens can be powerful. It's what I assume was the inspiration for all the close-ups in Moonlight.
Jonathan Demme is an interesting filmmaker because he started off as a copywriter who Roger Corman asked to make a movie. So Demme started off making B-movies for Corman and rose to winning the Oscar for Best Director. His cinematographer for Lambs was also his cinematographer for all those B-movies. It's inspiring.
There were protests for this movie from LGBT groups. I think there was even a demonstration outside of the theater during the ceremony. This backlash prompted Demme to make Philadelphia as an apology of sorts. Which is also a great film.
You are right on the closeups. Of course tons of movies have closeups, but usually the actor is looking a bit to the side of the camera lense. Here it is a very direct look which gives an uncomfortable intensity when Lecter is starring straight at you.
From an entertainment point of view, this is a very well written thriller with a style that has clearly influenced both the likes of X-Files and Seven. To an extent, it probably started a long still running trend with a fascination for serial killers and their psychology, which has been the premise for many movies and tv shows.
In addition we get Jodie Foster as the perfect illustration of a woman stuck in a mans world having to deal with rampant sexism and skepticism of her qualifications. She isn't the usual "strong woman" type which sadly often just means the writers create a woman with stereotypical male strengths. She is both strong, intelligent, scared and vulnerable all at the same time.
It is quite a feat for the movie to win the five major awards. All well deserved in my opinion. I have seen Hannibal and Red Dragon several years ago, but they didn't leave a lasting impression, though I remember them as good enough at least.