good movie but is it time for bed yet?

Okay so ‘Double Indemnity.’ I watched this one cause it was the only free one. In retrospect it probably wouldn’t have mattered if I spent two bucks to watch a different one, but whatever. I’m writing this up now at two a.m. because  I just finished the movie and want to get my thoughts down before I forget. I’ll probably wake up tomorrow, read this, think about editing it to sound better, and then shrug it off cause it’s just a little fraction of my grade and who cares if I wrote it on the verge of passing out?

The plot was very similar to that of ‘The Postman.’ I guess that’s because the books were written by the same author, but I think a good writer should be able to come up with different stuff and not just a twist on his old stuff. Oh but you don’t want to hear what I think about the plot; you want to hear what I think of the design!

There are some elements that more obviously fit in with noir design than others, the venetian blinds, the shadows, the silhouettes, and the smoke and fog. Having it set in LA was an interesting choice. Normally LA you think glamour and glitz of Hollywood; whereas, someplace like New York may give you more of that urban gritty feeling you want to get from noir films. But anyway LA proved to be just the right backdrop for this story; it was just big enough to fit in with the noir cityscape trope and just spread out enough that it didn’t feel too big. And I loved the different camera angles used. Kind of gave the scenes an off-kilter feeling. Darkness and shadows were very controlled in this movie. I loved what Megan said about the scene where Phyllis and Walter meet.

All in all, it’s a very well designed, beautiful movie. I can see how the design elements of this movie helped lay the foundation for noir, as this movie was made as noir was just becoming a thing. Now I’m going to sleep. Goodnight ds106