Friday, August 20, 2010

Daybreak


Daybreak (1939)

The Gist:
Carne's film Daybreak is drenched in atmosphere, dark Parisian streets filled with fog, slow dissolves into romantic flashbacks, cigarette smoke, gunshots, snappy French dialogue. What I enjoy most, however, is that it's just a great set-up. Half of the film takes place in a room where a man has a stand-off with the police after he is found murdering another man. Then through flashbacks we slowly piece together how he has come to this point. If I had a complaint, it's that the film feels a little too conscious of its mood at times, too aware of itself. But that's a complaint I can level at a lot of my favorite films so I'll let it go.

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