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<blockquote data-quote="Willie Oleson" data-source="post: 416190" data-attributes="member: 8">GOSFORD PARK (2001)[ATTACH=full]55247[/ATTACH]It&#039;s like Merchant Ivory meets Downton Abbey, but without a distinctive storyline. Perhaps you could say that it redefines the period drama genre.It only took me a few minutes to realise that this was going to be a very good one and I&#039;m happy to say that that feeling never changed.One of the most extraordinary aspects is its cinematographic fluidity, it doesn&#039;t cut between scenes - it glides. This almost creates the illusion of being inside the film as an invisible spectator. Or the killer.It starts with the hectic activity of guest arriving at the estate and the servants who need to take care of everything. Dozens of character names are dropped within less than 10 minutes which should make it very challenging to watch, but it doesn&#039;t.Even after the film had ended I still didn&#039;t know all&nbsp;&nbsp; the characters and their connections - love, family, business or otherwise - but it doesn&#039;t matter, it&#039;s all about the chemistry and tension, something that you notice or &quot;overhear&quot; without the need for specific details.This also explains why the murder mystery is merely an inconvenience rather than a mystery. All we know is that the horrible host deserved to be murdered, maybe more than twice.The parentage mystery doesn&#039;t play out as a spectacular reveal, it only highlights the mundanity of that situation at that particular time. And nice to see you again, Clive Owen.Obviously the servants have to do all the hard work but it&#039;s not much better &quot;upstairs&quot; where the guests are trying to make conversation with people they don&#039;t like, or trying not to get angry.Ryan Phillipe plays an actor who pretends to a be servant as a way to do research for his new role, but it&#039;s also implied that he&#039;s sort of a casting couch whore.The servants don&#039;t take kindly to his trickery and their petty revenge is very entertaining to watch, but again, nothing takes centre stage.The police officer in charge of the investigation is an incompetent windbag who ignores the evidence discovered by his assistant which, yet again, puts the focus on hierarchy rather than serious detective work.The DVD picture quality isn&#039;t the best I&#039;ve seen. Initially I was horrified by the excessive grain but thankfully that turned out to be rain. Oh it&#039;s all very watchable but still I consider tracking down a more recent (and hopefully upgraded) release. If it exists at all.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Willie Oleson, post: 416190, member: 8"] GOSFORD PARK (2001) [ATTACH type="full"]55247[/ATTACH] It's like Merchant Ivory meets Downton Abbey, but without a distinctive storyline. Perhaps you could say that it redefines the period drama genre. It only took me a few minutes to realise that this was going to be a very good one and I'm happy to say that that feeling never changed. One of the most extraordinary aspects is its cinematographic fluidity, it doesn't cut between scenes - it glides. This almost creates the illusion of being inside the film as an invisible spectator. Or the killer. It starts with the hectic activity of guest arriving at the estate and the servants who need to take care of everything. Dozens of character names are dropped within less than 10 minutes which should make it very challenging to watch, but it doesn't. Even after the film had ended I still didn't know [I]all[/I] the characters and their connections - love, family, business or otherwise - but it doesn't matter, it's all about the chemistry and tension, something that you notice or "overhear" without the need for specific details. This also explains why the murder mystery is merely an inconvenience rather than a mystery. All we know is that the horrible host deserved to be murdered, maybe more than twice. The parentage mystery doesn't play out as a spectacular reveal, it only highlights the mundanity of that situation at that particular time. And nice to see you again, Clive Owen. Obviously the servants have to do all the hard work but it's not much better "upstairs" where the guests are trying to make conversation with people they don't like, or trying not to get angry. Ryan Phillipe plays an actor who pretends to a be servant as a way to do research for his new role, but it's also implied that he's sort of a casting couch whore. The servants don't take kindly to his trickery and their petty revenge is very entertaining to watch, but again, nothing takes centre stage. The police officer in charge of the investigation is an incompetent windbag who ignores the evidence discovered by his assistant which, yet again, puts the focus on hierarchy rather than serious detective work. The DVD picture quality isn't the best I've seen. Initially I was horrified by the excessive grain but thankfully that turned out to be [I]rain[/I]. Oh it's all very watchable but still I consider tracking down a more recent (and hopefully upgraded) release. If it exists at all. [/QUOTE]

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