John Huston - 1979
Huston is certainly using more expressive camera movements here. He allows buildings to loom, there to be close-ups, or for the camera to linger on something. The washed out colours and simple malevolence of the costumes, along with a structure that screams 'independent', gives for a more free-wheeling piece.
Huston has some interesting ideas, about idolatory, belief, sin. They are rather stuffy, perhaps a little cliche-riven, but open to cinematic discussion. Indeed, they do come across here. The problem is that Huston's direction does not allow a world, does not compose or edit so as to give a sense of anything beyond actors repeating lines in a certain kind of sense. There is, almost, a lack of art. This makes the exploration of themes rather abstract; this isn't a real place, with real people, and all the complexities and shades of the world. This isn't a bad film; but it's pretty insubstantial, too.
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