Periodically, American Culture Critic will host guest reviews. The first of these appears below, as special correspondent Jim Chiu has generously and graciously donated his time to pen the review of the polarizing film Fifty Shades of Grey, directed by Sam Taylor-Wood, which appears below. Many thanks, Jim.
"Fifty Shades of Grey was a surprise for me. It is difficult,
when a film receives as much hype as Fifty Shades has, to go in without
expectations. However, I was pleasantly taken aback by the cinematic work I
ended up viewing.
Fifty Shades of Grey is a film whose underlying theme is
contrast and dichotomy. Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) and Christian Grey (Jaime Dornan) are two polar
opposites who engage in a whirlwind romance. Unfortunately, this film plays out
more as a tragedy than a romance film. But before we get to that, let me play homage
to the people who really brought this film to life: the production crew.
Returning to the themes of contrast and dichotomy, the
production crew, from cinematographers to wardrobe to set designers, all
clearly worked with a unified vision in order to highlight them. Anastasia
Steele’s apartment is exactly what one would see in a college apartment. It is
chaotic and eclectic. Christian Grey’s
office and home are cold stone and devoid of warm colors. The only room in
Christian’s home with any color in it is his “red room of pain.” Each set piece
highlights an aspect of the characters’ life. Moving from set piece to set
piece colors the interaction between the characters.
The inestimable Danny Elfman’s work is amazing in this film.
His musical choices complement each scene and create an ambiance in which the
actors play their roles. From the college rock on campus and in bars to the
dark orchestral pieces that play in the “red room of pain,” Mr. Elfman’s touch
cannot be mistaken.
The cinematography is masterful in this film, which especially heightens the use of contrast visually and thematically. Great care was taken
to ensure the “red room of pain” scenes enjoyed the warmest lighting, creating
contrast shadows and at the same time, it felt like the focus was brought to
razor sharpness. These scenes were the show piece of the film and mean to
communicate the fact that, in these moments, both characters felt more passion,
more clarity, and more intensity than any other spent outside this room.
All this excellent work is wrapped around a story that is
controversial to say the least. I feel it is outside the scope of this review
to tackle the social topic of abusive relationships, so we will focus on the
storytelling. Anastasia and Christian are not only a couple at odds with each
other, but with themselves. Each character is found battling their own nature
and their own perceived limitations throughout the film. Unfortunately, this
can come off as a bit sophomoric in its delivery. Anastasia’s attempt to deny her
attraction towards Christian is an excellent example of this. That said, there
was an incredible amount of subtly to both actor’s performances as what was not
said was just as important as what was said out loud.
Overall, while this film stumbles in places, Fifty Shades of Grey was an
impressive and intense piece of filmmaking."
