Review of Sunrise (1985) by Julian P — 17 Jun 2007

So far, Sunrise is the most emotional cinematic experience I've had all year. Whilst certainly incredibly impressive on DVD, 35mm really is essential for such a visually affecting masterpiece of silent cinema.

Murnau is a master formalist. His extremely limited use of inter-titles makes him arguably the most "visually pure" of the silent directors. The cinematic father to (in my opinion) the greatest formalist, Alfred Hitchcock (thereby making him De Palma's granddaddy).

Murnau's also almost as illogical/unrealistic as De Palma/Hitchcock, but with psychological realism intact. His use of nature made me immediately think of Bresson (Malick too possibly). Yet his use is (in relation to Bresson at least), less misanthropic.