Opera
The camera is its own character here. Opera is often regarded as one of the last great films by the maestro of the macabre, thus allowing me to garner a few expectations after being familiar with his work. This is up there with <PERSON> as one of his best works, with all of the quirks and trademarks you'd come to expect. As I mentioned before, the camera is its own beast. Much of the technical language <PERSON> exhibits here is entirely unpredictable and idiosyncratic. Sweeping camera shots are rhythmic and deliberate, leaving an operatic, (yeah) sinister tone that gets more and more outlandish. This is one of his finest achievements in cinematography. The camera almost never stops moving, reminding me of the kinetic and fierce pacing of Possession. 594
Watching it unfold in a theater was the best way anyone could experience it. Another one of my favorite quirks was the pulsating camera, as when we experience our main character's heartbeat- the screen would immediately vibrate to accompany the fear she had.
While it may seem like I absolutely adored this movie besides the dubbing, weird character moments, and over-the-top cheese, there was one glaring issue that overshadowed the self-awareness most of the film had- the final 10 minutes. Not to get into spoilers as I do think it's worth finding out for yourself, but the ending was, without exaggeration bizarre, and awful. A little behind-the-scenes trivia would have you know that a few studio execs wanted those last 10 minutes taken out, but <PERSON> would not budge. Often times these out-of-touch execs are wrong, but maybe they had something cooking here. It did sour my experience at that moment, but after some time I began to appreciate everything else the film had going. Now don't let those final minutes turn you off from seeing it, as Opera is a fun, delinquent ride into the insane mind of <PERSON>. You'll laugh more times than you can count, but also squirm at the blood-soaked gore lit by bright, colorful hues.
So maybe the true Opera was the friends (and loose adaptation of Macbeth) we made along the way. 292