Gomorra

2008 movie from Matteo Garrone; a terrific display of modern realism
this movie can be read as concerning oreder out of chaos, and it has the wit to explore this on each of its levels
the highcontrast, extreme low key lighting gives sillouhettes all around, non-human figures sharply dividing the space
this also gives too much deoth; the direction wants to have out of focus to analyse the chaotic locale
thus faces are often taken extremely close to the camera (but never an affective close-up) in a pan-and-scan style that is itself chaotic
the space around the characters is never clear; we are always directed off screen, but are rarely clear exactly where the direction comes from. Spaces are twisty, confusing verticals and horizontals
when a character/ plot believes it has come to find some kind of order (i.e. on the trips abroad), a more perpendicular, stiller, clearer framing is evoked (falls apart, of course)
the story operates with non-identifying snatches of different characters. No identification, so any work of recognition takes time
we realise that this is pure chaos; chaos in the lives, and chaos as we realise there is no connection, no unifying strands to the lives or the narrative; just pointless violence, boredom, and hand-waving
any thematic or narrative unity would be false, untrue to the world
when order has been restored (notice the key scene with the travellers-abroad on the roadside) we then have the shocking turn; the totality itself is disgusting, chaotic, even in its very order
in the scene where the man is held up, his money taken from the table and associates murdered, his trip outside again reveals a new world; simple long shots of a distant motorway reveal a world of violence, disgust, chaos
this film recieves some sickly resonant images; the crashed car, the shootout in the twilight. Never stylised, almost a joke
the formal fragmentation of the narrative reveals that the only way realism, which presumes totality, can be presented is to take on such strongly formal elements; control the content in such a manner
really a lesson in how to conduct more realism; stylistically brave, an outstanding piece of work