|||

Spartan one-sheetDavid Mamet has a distinctive writing style that blends elements of reality with a stylized way of speaking to create memorable puzzles where you try to determine what is really happening while listening to the fascinating conversations that are occurring. With Spartan, Mamet creates a thriller with the dialogue stripped down as well as the information that we need to understand what is going on. The film revolves around the basic question, Where is the girl?” Val Kilmer turns in a precise and compelling performance as the man who will find her. The only title at the beginning of the film is the name of the film and there are no intertitles indicating place or time unlike most thrillers that condescend. You find out what you need to know it and have to listen and watch closely to make sure that you don’t miss any clues. It’s a very efficient film and everything that you see or hear is connected with something else. But it’s more than just an exercise. In a perverse way it’s a fairy tale told through the genre of political thriller.

Up next Circular Logic Last week I uploaded Circular Logic: 6 Loops in Wolfville to my space at ZeD. The Circular Logic project originally happened for the Digital blog1979 Daniel Dugas found an old journal in a box and he’s putting parts of it up. 25 years ago he took a trip around Canada and the U.S.A. starting and
Latest posts Favourite Films of 2020 FIN Atlantic International Film Festival 2020 Galas FIN Atlantic International Film Festival 2020 Preview My Favourite Films of 2019 Best of the 39th FIN Atlantic International Film Festival FIN Atlantic International Film Festival 2019 Fiction Features 2019 FIN Atlantic International Film Festival Galas The Films of Agnès Varda Archiving Moving Hosts Best Films of 2018 FIN Atlantic International Film Festival 2018 Documentaries, Features, and Special Presentations FIN Atlantic International Film Festival 2018 Preview, Galas, Restored!, and Extreme Halifax Independent Filmmakers Festival 2018 Preview How and What I Watched in 2017 Favourite Films of 2017 FIN Atlantic International Film Festival 2017 FIN ATLANTIC INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2017 PREVIEW PART 3 FIN Atlantic International Film Festival 2017 Preview Part 2 FIN Atlantic International Film Festival 2017 Preview Part 1 FIN Atlantic International Film Festival 2017 Gala Preview 52 Films by Women Halifax Independent Filmmakers Festival 2017 Favourite Films of 2016 Breaking a Streak Day 8 - Atlantic Film Festival 2016 Day 7 - Atlantic Film Festival 2016 Day 6 - Atlantic Film Festival 2016 Day 5 - Atlantic Film Festival 2016 Day 4 - Atlantic Film Festival 2016 Day 3 - Atlantic Film Festival 2016