Holy Girl

[Guest Y.M.Poursohi]

I just saw Holy Girl and wanted to hear some opinions on it. Interesting story and ending, very good acting and nice cinematography. Two things I wasn't sure about: one was the use of shaky handheld camera in a few scenes, and the tight feeling of the shots. Most scenes seemed to be shot at medium to telephoto range in interiors and exteriors, and it was hard to get a sense of the space. There were more than a few scenes that could have benefited from a wide shot revealing the environment, and I couldn't understand why the frames were so tight.

 

I have often argued about this idea of space and letting the viewer into it, and have my own biases. I think even if the filmmakers don't want to show the entire space, maybe having a wide shot or two can help the scene a lot. I use Bunuel, Kubrick, Hitchcock, Bresson, Antonioni, and Scorsese as examples, and I think all use the wide shot at some point in the scene (Bunuel, Kubrick more often). It seems many times filmmakers confuse the concept of a claustrophobic sense or intimacy with having constant tight shots. In other words people try to convey the above feelings with having claustrophobic cinematography through out the film. That seems to go against the intention since the viewer is confused visually and cannot focus on the story and the characters; the tight cinematography may make the observer aware of the cinematography and not the film as a whole unit.

 

What are your thoughts on this.

 

Yousef

[Jonathan Spear]

Once.

 

At O'Hare airport.

 

She was Danish.

Long red hair, about 5"7, green eyes, perfect skin.

 

I think her name was Fransesca or something like that.

Edited May 17, 2005 by TSM

[Michael Struthers]

Sounds like you felt exactly how the filmmaker wanted you to feel, so maybe they got it right.

 

Budgets are certainly a possibility and also if they were looking for shallow DOF then they might zoom in all the time...