Miami Vice (Mann, 2006)
Who would have thought that instead of a tired TV series remake, Michael Mann would turn Miami Vice into a breathtaking work of video art? Character and plot are really secondary to the image in Mann's new film, and thankfully so. No one needs a remake of another 80s TV series, and Mann takes us into other territory completley. The film is not about Crockett and Tubbs, and is barely about Farrell and Foxx, it is about the look of the sky or the ocean, the way men move in violence, and the nature of work.
Like all Mann's films, work is at the heart of Miami Vice. We get next to nothing of backstory for our leads, and from the first frame we are plunged into a visceral tale. You don't take a breath till an hour into the film. Movement defines these men, not pasts. Mann keeps wipping the images by you, effortlessly establishing tone and mood, and holding you in his control.
Though obstensibly about a standard cop show plot, at its heart this is non-narrative cinema, this is video art.
Current 2006 Top Ten:
1. Miami Vice
2. United 93
3. A Prairie Home Companion
4. An Inconvenient Truth
5. Dave Chapelle's Block Party
6. Nacho Libre
7. Hard Candy
8. Superman Returns
9. Thank You For Smoking
10. V for Vendetta
Who would have thought that instead of a tired TV series remake, Michael Mann would turn Miami Vice into a breathtaking work of video art? Character and plot are really secondary to the image in Mann's new film, and thankfully so. No one needs a remake of another 80s TV series, and Mann takes us into other territory completley. The film is not about Crockett and Tubbs, and is barely about Farrell and Foxx, it is about the look of the sky or the ocean, the way men move in violence, and the nature of work.
Like all Mann's films, work is at the heart of Miami Vice. We get next to nothing of backstory for our leads, and from the first frame we are plunged into a visceral tale. You don't take a breath till an hour into the film. Movement defines these men, not pasts. Mann keeps wipping the images by you, effortlessly establishing tone and mood, and holding you in his control.
Though obstensibly about a standard cop show plot, at its heart this is non-narrative cinema, this is video art.
Current 2006 Top Ten:
1. Miami Vice
2. United 93
3. A Prairie Home Companion
4. An Inconvenient Truth
5. Dave Chapelle's Block Party
6. Nacho Libre
7. Hard Candy
8. Superman Returns
9. Thank You For Smoking
10. V for Vendetta
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