Review of His Secret Life (2001) by Jason 123 D — 07 Oct 2012
The symbolism is overt to the ending shot, but that doesn't mean the film is bad; in fact, the film is quite good. I had one technical critique about the film and that is it seems the entire film was shot on the same lens.
Every shot goes out of focus in the background save two or three. The sets are lavish and well lit so I am confused as to why such an artistic approach was brought to the film. It works quite well, but the framing seems to indicate that the director sees the love between same-gendered couples as shallow in opposition to what he's trying to convey, which is the contrary.
After watching it a few more times, I may understand the meaning behind this, but it seems lazy to shoot an entire film with one or two lenses. Other than that, I loved the lighting, the story, the camera blocking, and the performances.
Many things I miss because I don't speak Italian, granted, but I guess my only other complaint or critique would be that there's such a deep rooted respect among the entire group but outright nobody treats anyone else with respect.
That seemed strange to me, but I don't know the culture or the language, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt that I'm missing something in context. I did love the dialogue between the main characters, however.
It was very refreshing and . . . real.
This review of His Secret Life (2001) was written by Jason 123 D on 07 Oct 2012.
His Secret Life has generally received very positive reviews.
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