User:TPoole/sandbox: Difference between revisions

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from the outset that the film is a fiction, but collectively the title cards suggest that it is a fiction drawn from the factual: an opaque background on

the titles ever so slowly reveals an image of a New York skyline.

''Beyond the Law’s'' structure departs from the purely observational. The entire film takes place in one long night, with most of its running time devoted to a police line-up and the grilling of individual crooks who range

from murderers to a man arrested for soliciting a “young boy.” But all of

those scenes are merely flashbacks. The film begins with two of the policemen

(Rocco and Mickey) on a double date. They review what has just happened

at the police station; later in the film, Pope joins them. The result allows for a multiple locations, both within the police station and without.

Direct cinema guides the shooting and editing style. Handheld camera shots unfold in long takes, occasional zooms, and jump cuts. Camera glare also invokes the appearance of authenticity. Mailer allows for a great deal of overlapping dialogue, as well as—during the police interviews—the intrusion of offscreen voices (and shouts) from elsewhere in the police station. But here we also feel the presence of a director more than in ''Wild 90''. For example, at the line-up, the handheld camera situates its point of view over the shoulder of Mailer, who is neatly silhouetted on screen left. Such composition hardly suggests the random.

Other aspects of the cinematic style repeatedly remind us that ''Beyond the

Law'' is a “fantasy.” Music is used more prodigiously than in ''Wild 90'', punctuating important moments of action, such as when a cop pushes a crook down a hallway and threatens him with a police baton. And then there are numerous different wipe transitions, ranging from one that looks like a splash of paint to another that resembles a car’s windshield wiper. Once again, it is as if fiction and non-fiction wrestle in a cinematic competition.

@@ Line 145: / Line 145: @@
 from the outset that the film is a fiction, but collectively the title cards suggest that it is a fiction drawn from the factual: an opaque background on
 the titles ever so slowly reveals an image of a New York skyline.
+''Beyond the Law’s'' structure departs from the purely observational. The entire film takes place in one long night, with most of its running time devoted to a police line-up and the grilling of individual crooks who range
+from murderers to a man arrested for soliciting a “young boy.” But all of
+those scenes are merely flashbacks. The film begins with two of the policemen
+(Rocco and Mickey) on a double date. They review what has just happened
+at the police station; later in the film, Pope joins them. The result allows for a multiple locations, both within the police station and without.
+Direct cinema guides the shooting and editing style. Handheld camera shots unfold in long takes, occasional zooms, and jump cuts. Camera glare also invokes the appearance of authenticity. Mailer allows for a great deal of overlapping dialogue, as well as—during the police interviews—the intrusion of offscreen voices (and shouts) from elsewhere in the police station. But here we also feel the presence of a director more than in ''Wild 90''. For example, at the line-up, the handheld camera situates its point of view over the shoulder of Mailer, who is neatly silhouetted on screen left. Such composition hardly suggests the random.
+Other aspects of the cinematic style repeatedly remind us that ''Beyond the
+Law'' is a “fantasy.” Music is used more prodigiously than in ''Wild 90'', punctuating important moments of action, such as when a cop pushes a crook down a hallway and threatens him with a police baton. And then there are numerous different wipe transitions, ranging from one that looks like a splash of paint to another that resembles a car’s windshield wiper. Once again, it is as if fiction and non-fiction wrestle in a cinematic competition.