The Raven - 2012 US d: James McTeigue
As I rush to catch up on films missed this year, I get to The Raven.
It's a fine comic book type fantasy, a Giallo-esque reinvention of Edgar Poe's last days. No masterpiece, but there is a fine story here and it is made extremely well. Stylish without ever becoming flashy or showy, a cast well chosen, and a beautiful pacing that refuses to go hell for leather yet never becomes indolent.
Above all this looks absolutely gorgeous and sounds simply magnificent. The image is that of populist Gothic middle class Victoriana and this is portrayed quite wonderfully.. It gives us a time and place where men dressed properly and even the dank untidiness of the workplace was elegant and soothing. This is Hammer writ large and it works. Add to this a simply excellent sound design and mix. Listening through headphones revealed the perfect balance of sound effects, music and dialogue. Not so much as a hoof clop was too high or too low. It was a pleasure to hear such unassuming mastery of sound in a film.
Though less iconic than McTeigue's previous V For Vendetta, this is the better film, and the alternate history adventure actually reminded em of Alan Moore far more than the direct adaptation from 2006! One can only dream what today's McTeigue might make of The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen had that franchise not been strangled in its cradle by an over-eager Hollywood.
Absolutely worth seeing, it never hits the stars but certainly stretches up there admirably, and as an example of unshowy technical proficiency in film-making, it should probably become a text film.
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