Sal (2011)
31KSal (2011). 1h 25m | TV-MA
“9 of 10 stars. James Franco Directs this film raw, and I mean that in a very good way. It brings to mind brilliant Directors like John Cassavetes. I know Martin Scorsese has a great appreciation for raw Directors like John Cassavetes, and Scorsese always seems to have a degree of this type of Directing in his films, but his film u0026#39;Mean Streetsu0026#39; is the one that comes to mind to me. The Cassavetes film (though they are all raw, with different nuances) would be u0026#39;The Killing Of A Chinese Bookieu0026#39;.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt is refreshing to see this type of Directing which is incredibly hard to do, and letu0026#39;s face it, other than Scorsese and aspects of Stanley Kubrick, Directors typically do not have commercial success with this type of Directing; these films are made for Film lovers that like watching beautifully filmed and performed movies. So I appreciate that.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDuring certain scenes, Franco will use unique close up angles, have the camera stay on the person listening instead of talking, go from a close up to filming from around the corner, go from a focused close-up to a blur of the ceiling. A bunch of little marbles that keep the movie unbalanced but having a clear Direction both at the same time; all those little marbles add up to a huge pile of marbles that bring Directors like Cassavetes to the forefront of my mind, and the artistic feelings he would bring to his films.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFranco stars alongside Val Lauren. Franco is really only in one scene and we mainly hear his voice as the Director of a play that Sal Mineo is rehearsing for. Lauren plays Sal Mineo great, and really hits the mark highly, without overreaching.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film mainly focuses around the last day of Mineou0026#39;s life.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis film should not get mixed reviews, and I understand why, itu0026#39;s u0026#39;artisticu0026#39; in its approach, but itu0026#39;s a great film, a great piece of Cinema.”
