To the Depths
I finally decided to watch Fritz Lang's Metropolis (the 2001 restoration with a quarter of the movie missing) and. And.
Oh wow.
I've told you before I'm slowly learning to appreciate silent dramas, but I had no idea it was possible for me to get so completely riveted by a German sci-fi film from 1927. God, it's one of the best silent movies I've ever seen - the best silent drama by far. The city of Metropolis seems so real and it's so beautiful above ground and so soul-crushingly depressing underground. That moment when Freder first sees Maria in the chapel is so powerful.
At the climax of the second act, when Freder sees Death descending upon Metropolis in his fever dreams, while the Machine Man in the guise of Maria dances in the nightclub before she finally appears as the Whore of Babylon sitting on the seven-headed beast, flanked by the Seven Deadly Sins and the male patrons of the nightclub worshiping her, and all the while that completely breathtaking original score by Gottfried Huppertz plays...
...I audibly let out a "Holy shit!"
Some of the most intensely well made moments of cinema right there.
Oh wow.
I've told you before I'm slowly learning to appreciate silent dramas, but I had no idea it was possible for me to get so completely riveted by a German sci-fi film from 1927. God, it's one of the best silent movies I've ever seen - the best silent drama by far. The city of Metropolis seems so real and it's so beautiful above ground and so soul-crushingly depressing underground. That moment when Freder first sees Maria in the chapel is so powerful.
At the climax of the second act, when Freder sees Death descending upon Metropolis in his fever dreams, while the Machine Man in the guise of Maria dances in the nightclub before she finally appears as the Whore of Babylon sitting on the seven-headed beast, flanked by the Seven Deadly Sins and the male patrons of the nightclub worshiping her, and all the while that completely breathtaking original score by Gottfried Huppertz plays...
...I audibly let out a "Holy shit!"
Some of the most intensely well made moments of cinema right there.