There isn’t a single film from Alan Pakula that I’ve seen and not enjoyed on some level, and revisiting Klute recently was something of a personal revelation. I hadn’t seen this amazing thriller in a long time (at least 15 years…) and I had totally forgotten about how sketchy and seedy and slow-burn it is, and how creepy and oddly sensual that musical score was; this is one of those total-package thrillers that delivers the aesthetic goods on every level, while still paying attention to character development, motivation, and narrative intent. Gordon Willis literally crafted a film born out of shadow and the night; his moniker “The Prince of Darkness” couldn’t have been more spot-on, and in this film, there are shots that look like they have 10 different shades of black in them. Jane Fonda was super sexy and totally riveting to watch, confident one moment and vulnerable the next. Donald Sutherland did some solid if subdued supporting work, letting Fonda come to him in an effort to maximize the dramatic potency of each of their scenes together. The screenplay by Andy and Dave Lewis allowed for some great monologues for Fonda, and I’d like to think that this film was considered a triumph for cinematic feminism back in 1971. Roy Scheider delivered colorful character work, the hat-tips to noir from Pakula and the Lewis brothers were studied and well-informed, and again, the level of Gordon Willis POWER can never be underestimated.
Podcasting Them Softly 