The Last Picture Show

1971, Peter Bogdanovich
The question I find interesting in this film is; why is it so good?
This becomes a question because, at first, it sets itself up to be pretty greatly flawed. With hardly any contrast in the cinematography we have a nice kind of dustbowl, but there is really no sense of space created explicitly by long shots, and this film is, after all, all about space. The close-ups are relentless, making connection difficult, and initially making visual interest difficult. With acting focussing, by needs, itself on tiny gestures, any real depth would have to be earned with far too much effort, lacking bodily expressivity.
And yet this film is a wonderful picture. The close-ups are shot very well; nice cavings of the face, not so much affect-shots but a nice sort of rubbery plasticity. There is quite a lot of big faces very close to the camera, as the film goes on background depth is used more. It is perhaps though through sound and silence that place is created. The rolling dustbowls, cadences of accent. This film does its work the hard way; it, over long periods of time, builds up its characters step by step, piece by piece, rather than allowing anything more immediate.
Thematically, I would have to admit I don't care about the characters per se; it is stupid people doing stupid things. Their is a slight tendency towards pathos and a valorisation of a milleu that doesn't deserve it. Yet the film is smart enough to stand apart from the realism, to show it all as idiotic, however much empathy would like to be felt. What we eventually have is a slow build up, brick by brick, where beauty of the close-up is earned, and we nearly have a sociological study by the end. A really fine picture.