Review of Shawshank Redemption

I try to blog about things that move me. These are often shitty movies.

Bucking that trend, I want to write a quick something something about 'The Shawshank Redemption', which I watched again a few days ago.

It is an awesome movie. So good that I can't think of anything halfway pretend-clever to write because I am still embarrassed at conveying my thoughts after having watched a movie that has itself conveyed so much in a manner done so well. What to say. Um, "There is no fat?" "It is a movie about hope?" It's a movie that doesn't wave that word, hope, around like sugar coated chocolate bomb pops, that's for sure. I think it earned it. It dealt with a term that has been used so often as to lack any mening above being a stimulus in lesser movies - much like soaring violins - to let you know when some scene is meant to be a moving moment.

And it uses voice-overs and gets away with it!

I don't know how else to say what I feel. I suppose one way is to ask myself, "if I were to construct this story, could I ever pull it off?" in terms of patience, and pacing, and rythm and sly character development. I dunno, it seems like this script was hammered and pressed and folded many times over until it is just so. I guess, I think, I want to say, that I can't imagine having liked movies before this movie ever came out. I guess...

Oh, but one thing that irked me and made me wonder if this movie would be as good as I remembered - the D.A. in the opening scene was totally out of line in his examination of DuFresne.

Well, that's it. I hope my co-bloggers have something more intelligent to say about this movie.