I went into this film dreading it, thinking it would be as boring as The Birth of a Nation. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually pretty interesting. I’ve heard about the steampunk genre many times but still don’t know much about it, but when I picture it I imagine something just like this movie.
The plot was kind of hard to follow and I kept getting confused but I don’t think it matters because the film was obviously more focused on its aesthetics than its plot. The aesthetics were great. I loved the costumes that were a clash of 1920s fashion and what they thought would be fashion of the future. Also, they did a good job making the sets actually look futuristic. The overpopulated buildings and flying vehicles reminded me of Back to the Future II and Star Wars. The dramatic orchestral music set the tone of the film and also kept reminding me of Star Wars. Also, all of the symbolism with the clocks reminded me of that one famous Charlie Chaplin movie where he’s hanging from the clock. I like how this film explored the idea of social class disparities and the issues they can cause. It depicted the workers as replaceable machines and the only one who cared to try to change things was the mayor’s (?) son. I’ve always been interested in this topic and it was cool to see it played out in such a stylistic manner. This is a film that I wouldn’t watch on my own time, but it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting and is entertaining enough to keep your attention unlike some other silent films I’ve seen.
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May Featured Movie QuoteBarry B. Benson: Yellow-black, yellow-black, yellow-black, yellow-black... Oh, black and yellow. Yeah, let's shake it up a little.
Yeah, I have letterboxd now
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