Word: filming
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...more and more reflective of a cinematic game, as the men fight from summer to fall with individual deaths meaning little. Lee's fade-outs to nature are beautiful portraits of the rich Missouri countryside, yet he is almost too proud of his ability to capture these scenes on film. While he tries to establish a distinction between active battle and quiet days at camp, each fade-out is one more step away from the film's chance to redeem itself with a coherent story line. Hints of Lee's genius as a director do show in his later battle...
...Unfortunately, the plot and screenplay detract from the film's artistic merit. James Schamus' screenplay might reflect the language of the Civil War, yet the dialogue is entirely self-important and melodrama destroys any stake the viewer might have in the plot. Lee wishes to establish the North as a human presence, so Roedel reads some found union letters to the camp. Similarly, Lee has Roedel and Chiles talk under the stars to emphasize the characters' brotherhood...
...film's most distracting element, Jewel, playing the sweet widow Sue Lee Shelley, appears later in the film when Roedel, Chiles, and Holt move to a dugout to wait away the winter. Jewel is surprisingly good at engaging in dialogue, yet she visibly shies away from the camera when she finishes her lines. Lee quickly establishes a romantic relationship between Shelley and Chiles, who sires a child before dying in a federal raid on the dugout. Chiles death scene is sickeningly melodramatic as Roedel and Holt first attempt to amputate Chiles' diseased arm, only to realize that Chiles' death...
...spring approaches, the film seems to grow longer and longer. Lee allows an artificial sense of dramatic climax to unfold with the 1863 Bushwacker assault on Lawrence, Kansas. The viewer expects Holt and Roedel to perish in a tragic death in battle so Lee can make some sort of universal claim that war is pointless. However, Roedel and Holt merely receive injuries and miraculously, find themselves at the Shelley farm. Images of Jewel breast-feeding her child again distract the viewer and destroy whatever dramatic tension remains. In a contrived plot twist, Shelley maneuvers herself into matrimonial bliss with Roedel...
...Devil is merely a mockery of human relationships. Maguire's Jimmy Stewart-like treatment of his character, the unexplored dramatic richness of Holt's story and Jewel's shaky on-screen image detract from Lee's normally rich character development. Lee fails in Ride With the Devil. The film is not poorly conceived, but his past films and demonstrated talent grant occasion to expect more from him. This time, Lee tries too hard bridge the gap between the subtlety and serious nature of indie films with the demands of a Hollywood audience. Unfortunately, he loses both audiences...