The Village: Or "Revenge of the Killer Boom Mics"
This isn't exactly a review; it's too late for me to type that much, and I'm also listening to Art Bell.
But I will say this to anyone who plans to see The Village. In nearly every scene that calls for a boom mic, it appears at the top of the screen. There are more boom mics in this movie than in all the episodes of Dark Shadows combined, and it really detracted from the intensity of the film. While I sincerely tried to take the film seriously, I could do nothing but feel bad, very bad, for all of the actors and creative persons involved who now look farciful because of the largest, most blatant editing mistake in cinematic history.
There were scenes of the film where you could tell they deliberately covered up part of the screen to hide the microphones, but they did not do this enough. It was so laughable, yet so sad, because I really thought that M. Night had some sort of talent before this film. He had to be sleeping on the job, because the amount of boom mics in this film would embarras Ed Wood himself.
I've read a number of blog posts stating that this was a problem with the projectionist, that the film was sent with the wrong 'lens specs,' which allowed projectionists to put the wrong lens on and show too much of the print. But I don't buy this. Why would they send a print of a movie out with such blatant problems?
Other than this, I can see how this could have been a fascinating film. I loved the lead actress; she was absolutely beautiful and performed well for the camera. The plot was very predictable; I had it figured out in around 15 minutes into the movie. The whole twist ending thing is getting old; I wish M. Night would try to write a climactic ending for once.
All in all, this could have been an amazing film. But with the editing problem, it made me nearly cry for the wonderful talent that was wasted.
posted by novachild @ Sunday, October 10, 2004,
3 Comments:
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At 8:52 PM,
:: miss m :: said...
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Boom mikes? How odd. I saw this movie a few months ago and didn't see anything like that. Are you sure some prints really weren't faulty? I'm awful about nit-picking things in movies and I never saw a one. Actually, this is the first I've heard of it.
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At 11:17 PM,
novachild said...
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Well, I've done a bit more research and I talked to the folks at the local theater. Apparently, the wrong lens WAS used, and so of course boom mics will appear throughout the entire film.
I've never heard of this happening before, and I hope it never happens again! Perhaps my former post was a bit too fresh from the film, but boy did it steam me that such an obviously great little movie was ruined by some bad editing, projectioning, or whatever it might have been. I've heard rumors that the wrong lens was indicated on the film canister.
Who knows? -
At 5:30 PM,
said...
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I saw this movie in Keswick, England in September 2004, and the boom mics were everywhere. I was amazed, and couldn't take the film seriously at all. The theatre told me it was the print. I just thought about it again so googled for it and found your page here. Odd if it's just this film that theatres put the wrong lens in for. I think there's a bad print out there. Hey, that's an idea for a film, right there.
