Jarecki is finely attuned to the lawyerly crafting of persuasive narratives and the credibility of those — such as jurors — who evaluate them, which is why his visual tone-deafness regarding reënactments is all the more surprising and disheartening.
"Delbaran," which will be shown today and tomorrow in the New Directors/New Films series at the Museum of Modern Art, is not overtly a work of social criticism, or even, given its frequent digressions into visual tone-poetry, an attempt at simple realism.
Law hyperventilated poetically, Firth internalised more tautly than ever, and Nicole Kidman offered some knowingly imperious grace notes – all in 1930s visual tones not so much sepia as old tobacco.
The nostalgic, autobiographically inspired sequel to Hope and Glory is everything you'd expect from distinctive film-maker John Boorman: a heartfelt story told in arresting visual tones through a melange of conflicting accents and strangely theatrical staging.
Sirk suggests the looming deceptions of European history with games of shifting identities and allegiances and the shadow play of urban tangles and architectural labyrinths; the movie's slippery dramatic and visual tones suggest the menace of an underworld in plain sight.
