In 2001 and 2002, BMW hired some of the world's greatest living directors and Guy Richie (who actually made one of the best of these shorts) to make eight short but very cinematic films. All of them featured a BMW as well as Clive Owen in the lead, but otherwise the directors and directors were apparently allowed to carry out their vision in making some truly outstanding films. This is the fourth of the series that I have seen and it's just amazing that the folks at BMW managed to get John Frankenheimer, John Woo, Ang Lee and others to make these films--as well as the acting talent they could assemble.
In this particular film, Wong Kar Wai ("Chungking Express") directs and the film co-stars Forrest Whitaker and Mickey Rourke--all these in a genre that almost always features "newbies"!! This is the prettiest of the the shorts I've seen so far. The camera-work and especially the music are just wonderful--it's a real nice work of art. The problem, however, is that the story itself seems just too short--even for a short film. At about 8 minutes in length, I wish in hindsight they'd perhaps added another couple minutes, as the film just seemed incomplete. Interesting, yes, but incomplete. See it yourself and see if you agree with me--exceptionally artistic but missing something.
By the way, it is interesting that although you assume Clive Owen is an assassin in "The Follow", this is never explicitly stated! In addition, in all the other shorts I've seen so far, he's been a heroic sort--here he's much more morally ambiguous. I wanted to know more about this--it seemed like an interesting idea.
In this particular film, Wong Kar Wai ("Chungking Express") directs and the film co-stars Forrest Whitaker and Mickey Rourke--all these in a genre that almost always features "newbies"!! This is the prettiest of the the shorts I've seen so far. The camera-work and especially the music are just wonderful--it's a real nice work of art. The problem, however, is that the story itself seems just too short--even for a short film. At about 8 minutes in length, I wish in hindsight they'd perhaps added another couple minutes, as the film just seemed incomplete. Interesting, yes, but incomplete. See it yourself and see if you agree with me--exceptionally artistic but missing something.
By the way, it is interesting that although you assume Clive Owen is an assassin in "The Follow", this is never explicitly stated! In addition, in all the other shorts I've seen so far, he's been a heroic sort--here he's much more morally ambiguous. I wanted to know more about this--it seemed like an interesting idea.