Blade Runner 2049

I think for most film fans, Blade Runner is one of the seminal films. Mis-understood on its release, the cult science-fiction classic has become one of the cornerstones of the genre and regarded as one of the best films of all time. For a time, I would have echoed similar sentiments. I saw it in my early teens and it just blew me away. The visuals, the music, the cinematography. I became fascinated with the world and it led me to the works of Philip K. Dick, still one of my favourite authors. Then there was the fraught story behind the production of the film - the long shoot, the studio meddling, the various different cuts. I became obsessed with Blade Runner. I've cooled off towards it in recent years though. The difficult production meant that certain elements couldn't be as fleshed as they might have been and I think this hurts the narrative of the film significantly. All the pieces are there, it's just assembled in an odd way that makes the overarching plot unsatisfying. That said, as a mood piece, Blade Runner is phenomenal - so it's a mixed bag but a very positive mixed bag. So when I heard there were plans for a follow up, I actually welcomed the idea. There's a lot that could be done to expand upon and improve the groundwork laid out by the original film. Better yet a real filmmaker, Denis Villeneuve of Arrival fame, was selected to helm the project. The good news is that Blade Runner 2049 is just about the equal of the mighty original and probably does some things slightly better...

The gorgeous and huge Blade Runner 2049 is a must see for any film fan

Blade Runner 2049 is set 30 years after the events of the original film. The outlook of the world is only looks bleaker. We follow a new blade runner, simply called 'K' (Ryan Gosling) (no relation to the men in black), who also happens to be a replicant. See in the thirty years since the original film, the Tyrell Corporation collapsed and was acqutionised by a new company, led by the mysterious Niander Wallace (Jared Leto). Wallace has led a revolution with a new line of replicants, who are programmed to always obey. However, blade runner units are still needed to mop up any of the older, potentially dangerous models that still exist in the world. So K goes on a standard mission to hunt down a older replicant camped out at a farm (played by Drax the Destroyer, Dave Bautista). After a violent confrontation, K uncovers a box of bones under one of the few remaining trees in the world. It is revealed that the bones belonged to a replicant. Stranger still, the replicant was pregnant at the time of her death, which is unheard of. With potentially earth-shattering implications, K is ordered to investigate further and hunt down the potential child that the replicant gave birth to...

Blade Runner 2049 excels in certain areas that the original lags on. For starters, the film does an excellent job of re-creating the look of the original film - the expressionistic lighting choices, the dark rain-filled city (though it snows a lot these days as well) lit up by neon lights and the synthesiser heavy soundtrack are all present and accounted for. 2049 also makes use of long, slow and technically complex shots that allow us to take in the atmosphere of the world. I imagine this will put some audience members off and maybe why the film isn't doing so great at the box-office. For everyone else though, it's a chance to soak in some huge, quality filmmaking. The world feels even more drained than the original, as a blanket of snow and fog often fills the frame. 2049 also takes us out of the city. I love the bold decision to completely contrast the opening of the original, the famous wide shot of the terrifyingly beautiful dystoptian city scape, with flat, misty, grey farmland. The reveal of the landscape and tracking shots are pretty much identical. With an excellent visual base, the fact that 2049 takes the next logical step in the story and develops elements only hinted at in the original film is to be marvelled at.

The world of Blade Runner is lovingly recreated, yet also manages to expand upon it

At the centre of the new story is K, played to perfection by Ryan Gosling. Some have made fun of his doe-faced performance based on the trailers (RedLetterMedia's is particularly brilliant) but in the context of the film it is actually appropriate. My main issue with the original film is that Rutger Hauer's Roy Batty was the most interesting character but he wasn't the film's main focus. That belonged to Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard. Deckard doesn't really have much of character arc, at least not until the final 5 minutes or so, while Batty is the truly interesting one. Fortunately, 2049 learned from the original and put K very much at the centre. Without giving too much away, his character arc is fairly brilliant on both an existential and thematic level. As a replicant, he has to put up with a lot of abuse and what can only be described as racial slurs. Even amongst the police department, he is seen as being a bit of an outsider. This gives him severe motivation when the mysteries of the central plot kick in and that he could be something more than what he was programmed to be.

Ryan Gosling provides a real core to Blade Runner 2049, something that the original lacked to a degree

The exploration of memories is the poignant centre of the film. I re-watched Blade Runner very recently in preparation for the new film and this is the element I most wished was elaborated on further. How are the replicants' memories formed? Where do the memories come from? Are they artificially created or do they come from real experiences? Fortunately, this is at the centre of Blade Runner 2049. There is an excellent scene in which K meets the creator of replicants' memories, Dr. Ana Stelline (Carla Juri). This is a fascinating new dimension to the creation of the replicants, making the world's mythology richer and the thematic concerns deeper. We also spend more time with the villains. Jared Leto's blind Wallace is a fascinating character and a far cry from the warmth and mad genius of Tyrell. Here we actually see the birth of a replicant, brought into this world by a cruel and uncaring 'God', who only sees replicants as slaves. His problem is that he can't produce replicants quick enough. He learns that K is hunting down a child birthed by a replicant and stops at nothing to acquire it. His hope is that he can dissect it and unlock the mystery behind replicant pro-creation; thus leading to an ever increasing slave labour population. In this regard, 2049 does what every good sequel should do - expand upon the original, explore new and interesting themes and characters, whilst set in the world that the audience fell in love with in the first place.

Jared Leto's Wallace is cruel and uncaring towards the replicants he 'births'

The romance storyline always fell a bit flat for me in the original. Ford and Sean Young famously did not get on at all and this means there's a severe lack of chemistry. Again, 2049 improves upon this element with the addition of Joi (Ana de Armas), a holographic female companion that can be brought and "tells you exactly what you want to hear". K sees her as nothing short of being his girlfriend. Adult isolation is becoming more and more of a problem, so the concept of a digital companion to welcome you when you return home and tell you just what you want to hear is not so much science-fiction but more science-fact. Seriously, these exist already in countries such as Japan, where popular fantasy idol Hatsune Miku exists inside the Amazon Echo (https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/gatebox-azuma-hikari-virtual-assistant-news/). In the West, you only need to look at Siri to get a hint of the way things are going. So, 2049 takes a fairly affectionate look at this concept and manages to comment on our increasingly digital world where concepts such as truth and love can be challenged.

Surprisingly, the love story between a replicant and a hologram really works

All things said, despite the many things that 2049 does better than the original, it's still just shy of matching it, for me. I think the difference is that the mood is stronger in the original and that's what sticks with me. Blade Runner 2049 places more emphasis on the plot, which is fine of course, but a couple of issues do crop up in the third act which brought me out of the experience just a little bit. It's mostly the slightly forced conflict between K and Deckard. I don't want to give too much away and I'll elaborate when people talk to me about the film. I wish the marketing didn't reveal that Deckard would be returning (Ford is genuinely great in this, by the way) but that's not the fault of the film. It just would have added to the mystery a bit more. Plus 2049 doesn't have a character as good as Roy Batty, nor is there a moment as good as his "tears in rain" speech (though 2049 does try). A slight trim to the edit as well wouldn't have harmed either. These are pretty much my only criticisms of the film though. I don't think it's quite the jaw-dropping, flawless masterpiece it is being built up to be but it is an excellent film that begs to be seen on the biggest screen possible.

The fact that Blade Runner 2049 exists is nothing short of a miracle. The fact that is comes close to matching the original is even more outstanding. In an age of reboots and sequels to long dead franchises, Blade Runner 2049 actually feels earned. It does a beautiful job of re-creating the visual style of the original and fleshes out the story a bit more. I have some issues with the plot, which mostly pop up in the third act that don't quite add up, but as an extended mood piece, Blade Runner 2049 is about as good as sequel as you could hope for. It's a dense that has plenty to unpack and think about and I imagine it improves on repeated viewings.

Studio Ghibli: A Retrospective, Part Six - Kiki's Delivery Service

My Neighbour Totoro was always going to be a tough act to follow. However, Miyazaki found a clever way to almost pick up where Totoro leaves off. What happens to children when they begin to grow up? In Kiki's Delivery Service, Miyazaki explores the story of the titular character, on the verge of becoming a teenager, learning what it is like to live in the real world. Based on the popular Japanese children's books by Eiko Kadono, the film bares a passing resemblance to the novels (to the point where the author almost boycotted the project) however Miyazaki imbued Kiki with a mature and subtle tale of growing up fast. 

I must admit though - it's taken me a very long time to come around to Kiki's Delivery Service. Kiki used to be on the lower end of my favourite Miyazaki's films but it has slowly crept up in my estimations and is comfortably on the higher end. When I first started getting into Ghibli in my early teens, Kiki always fell by the wayside a bit for me. Nestled between the madness of Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, the whimsy of Totoro and the epic, action-adventures of Nausicaa, Laputa and Mononoke, the film never really struck a chord with me the way the other Miyazaki films did. I could certainly see its merits, sure, but I mostly wrote it off as light and a bit fluffy. I used to think it was trying to match that light plotted style of Totoro but didn't quite hit the mark. I mean there's a five minute sequence dedicated to baking a pie. 

Kiki sets out on her exciting, and slightly imposing, adventure

In 2010, I moved to Hull for university. This meant I would be living independently for the first time in my life. It was a time that basically made me who I am today, experiencing both the highs and lows life can offer and getting a real dose of reality. When I returned home from uni, I somehow ended up re-watching Kiki and then the film's power hit me like a ton of bricks. The whole thing made so much more sense to me having gone through the uni experience - leaving home, finding my feet and working out just who I was and where I fitted in (a process that is still continuing to this day). It wasn't easy (there were some awful times but also plenty of great ones) but I came out a stronger person on the other end, which helped kick start my adult life. After living my own life for three years, all of sudden Kiki's high and lows of living independently and settling into a new place became incredibly relatable. Kiki only being able to afford one type of meal? Check. Kiki awkwardly meeting new people? Check. Building a surrogate family of friends? Check. Having a day where the world seems completely against you? Check. I now view Kiki as one of Miyazaki's best and most subtle films.

Kiki's Delivery Service follows the titular character who has just turned 13 and also happens to be a budding witch. As is tradition to better their craft, witches spend a year away from their home to better their skills. Kiki, along with her cat familiar Jiji, embarks on her year-long journey with no real plans or any idea how she is going to support herself. She ends up in the port town of Koriko and soon befriends Osono, a bakery owner and heavily pregnant. In exchange for accommodation and help around the shop, Kiki helps Osono uses it as the base of her budding flying delivery service (as flying her broomstick is one thing she is kind of proficient in). The film follows Kiki as she tries to navigate independent living, whilst brushing off advances by the local geek Tombo and learning what it means to grow up ...

Kiki ponders when is the perfect time to leave home

The opening ten minutes or so are simply perfect, deftly setting up the main character and themes the film are going to explore. There's a long sequence in which Kiki decides that she is going to leave that night (due to the full moon being out), announcing this to her parents and making her slightly haphazard exit into the wild world, with no real plan on where she is going to go and how she is going to support herself. The film frames this as exciting to Kiki, it doesn't come down on her choosing to do this potentially dangerous mission! Her mum even says that it's not really a thing that witches do anymore, but Kiki is determined nonetheless. Her snide talking cat Jiji is also introduced, acting as something of the voice of the reason to Kiki. I love the scene where Kiki and her dad talk about her leaving. In a tender moment, he attempts to pick her up and spin her around, like he used to do when she was younger, but struggles! He just can't believe how quickly his daughter has grown up. With all her friends and family gathered on the perfect night, Kiki sets off on her broomstick. As a side-note, I love the way flying is animated in this film. It's not as graceful as Harry Potter and there's a real sense of weight to it, which is something fairly unique to Kiki. After the upbeat J-Pop of the opening credits subside, Kiki encounters another witch flying over a local town. She's a little bit uptight but gets Kiki thinking - how is she going to support all this? This young witch is clearly comfortable in herself and is making a living as a fortune teller. Kiki doesn't have any skills outside of flying...what is she to do? 

After some flying and a stay on an overnight train moving cattle, Kiki and Jiji end up by the coast and look upon the port town of Koriko. The establishing shots of Koriko are simply breath-taking. I discussed previously the concept of Paris no Akage, or Paris of our Dreams, but I would describe this setting as Germany of our Dreams. With its gorgeous gothic architecture (with an imposing clock tower looming over the town), the slightly worn but lovingly aged buildings, clearly Germanic font and the bright colours all contribute to creating a sense of an alternative, slightly exaggerated, take on Europe. Kiki's arrival into the town is nothing short of magical, as we become acquainted with the environment we are going to spend the rest of the film in. However, this is snapped when Kiki causes a major traffic incident as she flies along the streets and gets into trouble with the police over it but manages to sneak away. I love the scene where she is in the park having her lunch and a police car pulls on the other side. With childlike paranoia, she packs up and leaves. The weight of everything begins to pile on Kiki - what has she done? Where is she going to live? How is she going to survive? When all hope seems lost, she bumps in Osono, who is calling after a woman who has left her bakery without picking up her baby's dummy (or pacifier)! Kiki grabs it and flies down to the woman. Following this success, Osono suggests she open a delivery business with a fairly unique selling point and even offers her the spare room around the back of the bakery! The only condition is that Kiki help out at the bakery as she is heavily bakery. As if by pure luck, Kiki seems set up and looks relatively set.

The visuals of the film are to be marveled at, showing off Miyazaki's interests in fusing different culture's art styles together

Kiki's not so graceful entrance into town

The film then settles into an episodic groove, as Kiki takes on different jobs and gets acquainted with her new life. I love the scenes of her going food shopping for the first time and realising just how much everything costs. Pretty soon, she finds her money dwindling and has to resort to cooking very cheap meals for her and Jiji (mostly pancakes). I can relate to this situation all too much. She looks on in shop windows at clothes and shoes she can't buy, as other, more affluent girls walk by with seemingly everything. Again, something I can relate to as an ex-student. Minus the girl and possibly shoe parts. Anyway, she doesn't have time for trivial things like this, as she has a delivery business to run (though having them pretty red shoes sure would be nice). She first must deliver a stuffed toy to a little boy as his birthday present from his absent minded aunt. Things get complicated along the way when she drops the present into the middle of a forest and has to fend off some crows to retrieve it back. However, it is here that she makes a new friend, an artist named Ursula who is stopping in the middle of the woods for artistic inspiration. This sequence is perfectly judged for tension and comedy, in particular when Jiji has to pretend to be the stuffed toy, while Kiki retrieves the real present (coincidentally, the stuffed toy looks like Jiji) and befriends the little boy's elderly dog.

Kiki then has to deal with a lull in popularity, as she seemingly does not get many delivery requests. Then, all of a sudden she is busy again! She has a request from an elderly (eccentric) woman to deliver a freshly baked pie to her grand-daughter's birthday party. However, her modern electric oven is not working in time for when Kiki does the collection! After the woman offers to compensate Kiki for her time, she takes it on herself to help bake the pie, using an old stone-bake oven that's lying in the house, unused for years. That's right - one of the most exciting things to happen in this film are the characters trying to bake a pie. And it really does feel like there is a lot riding on this, as the tension is built perfectly. Kiki has a strict deadline to get back to the bakery, as local geek Tombo is picking her up to take her to a party, celebrating the unveiling of his new flying machine (like Miyazaki himself, Tombo is fascinated by flying, which is part of why he finds Kiki so fascinating). The pie is finished at the very last minute but a deluge of rain soaks Kiki on the way to the grandaughter's house. To make matter worse, the present is not very well-received at all by the grandaughter - she is incredibly dismissive and unappreciative. Seriously, I hate that character. Kiki worked hard to make that pie dammit! And now she's probably going to miss the party and soaked to the bone!

Get ready for the exciting pie making scene!

Following on from this incident are a couple of terrible days where nothing seems to work for Kiki (including missing the party hosted by Tombo). She falls ill and becomes very sullen. When she tries to pick herself up again, she find that she can no longer fly and ends up breaking her broomstick in an attempt to take off. Worst still, she can no longer talk to Jiji and he's off talking to and hanging out with another cat he is romantically interested in. So Kiki's business is going no where, she doesn't have money to spend on herself, nothing seems to work out the way she wants to, she can't enjoy her favourite things and she is becoming alienated from her friends. So in the end, Kiki becomes an astute exploration of depression, fear of growing up and how to overcome this. It's not easy navigating that road to becoming an adult, as there are plenty of highs and lows (which continue well into adulthood) and it is easy to become depressed. I think the best thing the film does is show Kiki is multi-dimensional; she has good days and bad days, goes through different emotions and acts in different ways around different people. This is something that is missing from a lot of children's (and 'adult') entertainment. 

Kiki decides to get away from it all by visiting her artist friend Ursula from earlier in the film. Well more whisked away by Ursula! Here, her friend reveals she has been working on a new piece, inspired by Kiki and her adventures with the crows. She learns a lot about her self and is clearly growing up. The crows that once terrified her are now, relatively, friendly. She has learned and grown from her experiences, as represented by the painting. She once fled in flight from the birds, now in the painting they are flying together. This proves to be the perfect self-confidence boost she needed and it is a beautiful moment in the film. We are the sum of all our experiences and we can only learn and grow from our past mistakes. Kiki also learns that she has a small surrogate family of friends who can support her. The painting itself was a collaborative effort by students at a school for challenged children, with touch ups by various different members of the production crew. I think that's important as well. The piece was constructed by dozens of different people to create a greater whole, just like how all our different experiences and people we meet influence us. 

A beautiful and subtle moment of character development

One incident in Kiki's depressed stage is hanging out with Tombo and testing his flying machine (after she misses the launch at the party)

Kiki's returned confidence comes at just the right time, as a much heralded blimp is flying over town and, of course, Tombo is on board. However, something goes horribly wrong as the blimp is blown of its axis and starts floating through town. To make matters worse, Tombo falls out of the blimp and is grasping on for dear life on the end of a rope...if only there was someone who could fly towards him and grab him? This becomes the ultimate test for Kiki, as she must believe in herself to be able to fly again and save Tombo. In a perfect sequence, Miyazaki brilliantly builds up the tension to create an emotional final set-piece to the film that puts Kiki's growth at the centre. And, fortunately, she is successful in saving Tombo! The final shot of the film sees Jiji return to Kiki, though he remains silent. It's a bittersweet moment - Kiki has grown up, as represented by her regaining some of her powers, however some elements, such as talking to Jiji, remain locked out to her. It's a perfect creative decision and completes Kiki's character arc. Which it what makes the decision in the dub so egregious to have Jiji talk at the end of the film. Now Jiji, as he weaves around the crowd to return to Kiki shouts "can you hear me?!". This completely undermines Kiki's arc and the themes the film has explored. This was not a decision made by Miyazaki or Studio Ghibli but one by the American dub company. I understand that dubs need to "Westernise" to appeal to a mass audience but having Jiji talk at the end, in case the little nippers might be confused or upset by the original's bittersweet ending, is fairly patronising. Fortunately, I've heard that recent pressings of the blu-ray omit this final line, keeping the film's original, quite perfect, ending. Otherwise, I would have had to devise an awkward mute system when I introduce the film to my (eventual) next generation!  

Uplifting and bittersweet, the original ending of the film is the perfect cap to the story's themes and Kiki's character arc

Kiki's Delivery Service is possibly one of Miyazaki's best films. It's taken me a very long time to come round to this but it is easily one of his best written and directed. The film deftly handles the experience of independent living, something I just couldn't relate to when I was younger. In Kiki, Miyazaki created one of his strongest protagonists - multi-layered and incredibly compelling. Everything, from the art-design to the character animation to the music, is simply top-quality. It's a simple story but one that is packed with little moments and subtle additions in every scene. Kiki's Delivery Service is an all-time classic that has a little something for everyone and only improves with age. 

While Miyazaki pondered his next move (one that would see him go in a completely new direction), Takahata's new project was on the verge of completion. With cutting-edge animation and a story very much set in the (then) modern world, Takahata would impress audiences again with the intimate, and rarely seen in the West until recently, Only Yesterday...

So a quick note on the dub. Overall, the cast do a good of job of bringing out the broader elements of the characters. Kirsten Dunst makes for a pretty good Kiki, bringing out her bright-eyed enthusiasm and also works well during the character's more down-beat moments. The biggest change here is Jiji. In the original dub, Jiji is very slyly sarcastic in a Japanese kind of way. In the English dub, this is altered to be more "American" sarcastic. While this sounds terrible, the script actually manages to bring a new and fun side to the character. This is especially helped by the final vocal performance of Phil Hartman (aka Linel Hutz and Troy McClure from The Simpsons). While I prefer the Japanese version of the character, it's fun having a different interpretation of Jiji. After all, part of dubbing is almost like a form of adaptation. The dub also changes the 1950s style Japanese songs with more contemporary pop songs. This is just down to personal taste I think. I prefer the Japanese songs, in particular the final song that plays over the credits. 

Close Encounters of the Third Kind - 40th Anniversary 4K Re-Release

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a remarkable film that has managed to keep a sense of aura and mystery around it, even 40 years after its original release. Growing up, this was the one Spielberg film that seemed the most illusive to me - more grand and slightly stranger than his other films, with an undercurrent of sadness that, at the conclusion, becomes something life-affirming. I'll admit that this one did not get as regular rotation as the other Spielberg films I cherished. Now as an adult, I have greatly anticipated this re-release, lovingly restored in 4K and back on the big screen where it belongs. Finally, I have a chance to re-evaluate what is possibly Spielberg's masterpiece. This honestly feels like the first time I have watched this film.

Pretty much everyone knows the story of this film. Strange lights begin to appear in the sky over rural middle America. Some residents believe these lights are non other than alien life. This becomes an obsession for local repair man Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), who has a close encounter of his own one fatal night. As his obsession starts to interfere and, subsequently, ruin his family life, he becomes fixated on a mysterious object and begins to see it everywhere (including in a bowl of mashed potato). Could the alien life be trying to communicate with Roy? And how can he convince those around him to be believe his visions? This parallels with a couple of other stories, including mother of one Jillian's (Melinda Dillon) search for her missing child, who was possibly abducted by the aliens and a mysterious government scientist (played by French New Wave filmmaker Francois Truffaut), who is leading an international mission to decode exactly what the aliens are trying to communicate, whilst navigating government red-tape and cover ups. 

Close Encounters still holds up after all these years, now lovingly restored in digital 4K

Close Encounters is odder than any other Spielberg film. I think this is possibly the closest film he ever made to the works of the European art-house directors that inspired him as a young man (see the hiring of Francois Truffaut in one of the roles). Everything has a much slower pace and puts an emphasis on atmosphere and performance. The anchor of the film is Dreyfuss - he's instantly lovable as a bit of a screw-up and it becomes genuinely tragic as his life goes off the rails. My favourite scene with him is probably where he uproots his whole garden, throwing dirt and bricks through his kitchen window to construct the mysterious edifice he is seeing everywhere. It's a wonderful performance that makes up a huge part of this film's lasting appeal. If I have one slight gripe, it's that the other adult characters are not quite as well drawn as Roy, even if they are good performances. I find it shame that Dreyfuss wasn't in more note-worthy stuff, because his performance in Close Encounters is one for the ages.

The most famous scene in film involving mashed potato? Possibly. 

Close Encounters really shows off Spielberg's attention to the little details. His renderings of Roy's family life, shot almost like a Robert Altman film with overlapping dialogue, are really to the bone and realistic. It honestly does get quite hard to watch as his family watch him descend into a kind of madness. That one of shot of the little boy watching in confusion and sadness as his dad plays with his mashed potato and breaks down always, always gets me. Same for a similar shot when the same son stares out of his bedroom door as his parents argue. If you know anything about Spielberg, you know that his parents' divorce greatly affected him and these shots are possibly him communicating this. This could also possibly be the germ of E.T. - an alien encounter from the perspective of a child, whilst also dealing with major changes in his family life.

What surprises me most is the ambitious structure of the film and its international global trotting, along with the scientific 'process' of making contact. This highlights the film's interest in contrasting hard science with family life. If you want to know where Ronald Emmerich got the structure for Independence Day and all of his other films, look no further than Close Encounters. The scenes of Truffaut and the scientist discovering and interpretating the evidence left behind by the aliens are a wonderful exercise in providing exposition with very little dialogue. Spielberg litters each of these scenes with a central mystery that goes towards working out the grand tapestry of the narrative. Then there's the Watergate undercurrent to these scenes (as Spielberg explains in the new introduction to this presentation), as the US government try to find excuses for the mysterious lights in the sky and why a group of scientists are amassing in the middle of the desert. Possibly what a real government would do in this situation! Also, there are the scenes involving Jillian and her son, which again shows that contrast between grand science fiction and intimate family drama. The scene where the aliens abduct the child are truly spine-tinging and proof that Spielberg is a master of creating tension without providing an on-screen threat.

One of the film's many unforgettable shots

All these plot lines sound a bit messy, intercutting back and forth, and they are to are to a degree but they are all tied together by this search for the truth. The truth behind what these alien encounters mean. This is visually and audibly tied together by the recurring motif of the edifice Roy is addicted to (the reveal of which I won't ruin if you haven't seen the film) and the simple music motif that can be heard replicated throughout the film. It is sung by huge choirs, played on a synthesiser and (my favourite) played on the xylophone by the little boy. That simple 5 note motif is one of the most recognisable in film history and serves as a key plot point. Suddenly, you realise that this is how communication can be made with the aliens. It also works on a bigger thematic level of how sound and vision manage can transcend language and culture. This quest for the truth brings hundreds of people together, irregardless of their background. That's still a pretty powerful message, especially in 2017.

The sadness of the film and multiple plot lines converge in the middle of the desert and gives way to a transcendent final act, which culminates with first contact with alien life. Most of the dialogue is stripped back to just images and John Williams' phenomenal soundtrack. The usual Williams bombast is saved only until the very end - the rest of the soundtrack has an eerie, almost 2001, vibe to it. Speaking of 2001, Douglas Trumpball's special effects still hold up beautifully. The limitations of the effects at the time mean that the ships and alien life don't appear on screen often at all, which just adds to their mysterious, untangible, feel. The best is saved for last, of course, as the gigantic mother ship looms over the landscape. This is still fresh science-fiction in a way - friendly alien life coming to Earth is still a rarity and I think this is possibly because Spielberg just hit the nail on the head with Close Encounters (and again with E.T.). 

If you love Close Encounters of the Third Kind, this is pretty much the definitive presentation of the film. The 4K remaster is simply stunning and gives everything a new found sense of life. If you've never seen the film, this is the perfect chance to take in one of the most influential films of all time, back on the big screen. Or if you're like me and can only remember snippets from your childhood, it will be like watching the film for the very first time. I think Spielberg is unfairly judged in the 'serious' film world and Close Encounters is a perfect rebuttal to those naysayers - it's sensitive, grand, funny, sad and uplifting just in the right way. There's a reason this man has made some of the most successful films of all time - he's a master of entertaining a wide-audience without talking down to them and Close Encounters is a perfect example of this.

Side-Note

I like to give shout outs to the cinemas that I visit when I see films, in particular independent ones. I have recently moved to Manchester, more specifically to the Heatons area in the south of the city. The one place everyone told me I needed to go to was the recently refurbished Savoy Cinema, located in the center of Heaton Moor. My partner described the cinema as a flea-pit before it was eventually shut down in the 2000s. However, the cinema's doors have recently re-opened to much applause from the residents, in particular film fans and a massive refurbishment. And this is, without a doubt, the best cinema I have ever been to. I've been to more historically significant cinemas (Hyde Park Picture House) and to hipper ones (Ilkey's gorgeous picture house, for example) but no-where compares to the Savoy's overwhelmingly high-quality facilities and its unabashed love of film, which just emanates from the walls. Whilst you're waiting in the lobby you can read the latest issue of Empire or swat up on your film knowledge with their many books. All the usual niceties are here, including popcorn, an old-school ticket dispensing machine and, I'm not kidding, the nicest 'public' bathrooms I have ever been to (complete with photographs of films stars on the wall, including former Heaton Moor resident and Lord of the Rings star Dominic Monaghan). Then there's the screen itself, with gorgeous red velvet curtains covering the screen and cushions on the 'luxury' seats, complete with film character names sewn into them. My partner was aghast at the transformation. I was just happy that a cinema somewhere remembers to retain that giddy and infectious love of film. Highly recommend.