Pickup On South Street

Samuel Fuller - 1953
The opening is a marvel of close framings, big heads (kept throughout), that SRS back and forth, unbearable tension by pure cinema. This focus on the heads doesn't come at the cost of fluidity of the camera, nor does it mean the takes are short (though they can be, very).
SRS is used to really throw us from one to another, an atmosphere of broiling heat. Faces are often zoomed or tracked into, quickly, with a real punch of emphasis. The shots are, of course, always beautiful; the city from the house, the shadows on the faces.
There is a remarkable focus on detail. This is perhaps helped by some very long takes, which make for tension, an almost unbearable 'reality' to the events. Other formal features to note are the music's at once emphasis and keening, almost sadness about the events, and the economy of sets and even camera set-ups used. Low-budget used perfectly.
We have here a capitalist world that is just brutal, with anger and communism also closely related. All are out for money, and pull no punches. The brutal harshness here is inflicted in those long takes often on women; he just shoots her. The long takes give such a physical sense of violence. Wounds are real, they stay, they look like they've been hit. Even the miserable acting gives this nasty world extra edge.
With his harshness is also a clear tenderness, for the wounds, but for the people, nasty capitalists or 'dirty reds' they be. This is helped by the long takes; indeed, I am confident in saying that Fuller and neo-realism have had words. The long takes, concern for Moe, is one of the most tender moments I know in the Hollywood cinema, and then, brutality, harshness, no punches pulled.