End of the year, time for rankings for everyone, including the greats of world cinema. Variety therefore collected the opinions of some famous directors on what theirs was favorite movie of 2024: Alexander Payne chose ConclaveAlfonso Cuaron the Brazilian I’m Still Herethe director of Alien:Romulus Fede Alvarez chose instead Inside Out 2 and that of Mufasa: The Lion King Barry Jenkins surprised with Nickel Boys. Among all, however, it is perhaps the opinion of Christopher Nolan the most surprising and certainly divisive one.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker for Oppenheimer – in the meantime working on his next project – he surprised everyone by choosing as his favorite film of 2024 a title that many of you discussed openly, between those who praised it like Nolan does and those who despised it in every way . Let’s talk about Gladiator IIsequel signed by Ridley Scott which is still having some success in theaters, but has split critics and audiences in two. Christopher Nolan, however, has no doubts about which part to choose.
«In Ridley Scott’s first Gladiator, Maximus asks us: “Aren’t you having fun?” and confronts us with the truth about why we visit the Colosseum through film – the director wrote in his paragraph – Scott knows we’re not there to learn about Roman culture; we are there to see our dark desires from a comfortable distance. But he is too experienced a director to be caught drawing parallels with our time. Let the world of Gladiator II speak for itself, showing us once again who we are by simply inviting us to enjoy the mad inflationary ride. Why are there sharks in the Colosseum? Because we ask themand Scott gives them to us masterfully. As he reveals how games are used to manipulate public opinion, we can’t help but see the shadows of our own public arena cast in the sand».
His analysis of the film, of which you can read our review HERE, continues as follows: «Like the best long-awaited sequels, Gladiator II is meant to be a remake and a sequel in one filmand it’s a testament to Scott’s brilliance that he manages to balance the individual pathos of the original with the expansive demands of the sequel’s central theme, bringing with him a lifetime of experience in tone control. Scott raises the bar with action staging: his incredible, hyper-observant multi-camera staging (so different from that of the original) makes the action masterfully transform into a clear and stunning sequence . The effect is not only to entertain, but to raise awareness of the film’s themes. Few directors have worked so invisibly on multiple levels. In films like Blade Runner, Thelma e Louise and Gladiator II, the visual density of Scott’s art serves as a support for its underlying thematic clarity».
Christopher Nolan then concludes by openly praising his colleague and suggesting that he has often been underestimated: «Despite the success, Scott’s contribution to the evolution of cinematic storytelling has never been adequately recognized. The visual innovations brought to cinema by him and his colleagues from 1970s British adland have often been dismissed as superficial, but critics of the time missed the point: the sumptuous cinematography and meticulous design brought a new depth to the visual language of films, a mise-en-scène capable of telling us what the worlds they portray could be like. This has never been clearer than in the masterful opening shot of Gladiator II, where Paul Mescal’s hand delicately cradles the wheat harvested by the swaying of the original film».
Do you agree with Christopher Nolan? Gladiator II it’s really the best film of 2024? Tell us yours in the comments.
Read also: Christopher Nolan went crazy for one of the films of the year: «It’s a miracle»
Fonte: Variety
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