Sunday, March 22, 2020

Se7en


  



Se7en
1995

Director- David Fincher
Cast- Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Gwyneth Paltrow, R. Lee Ermy, John C. McGinley, Richard Roundtree
            
     As this blog is devoted to movies about devils, demons, and witches, no doubt many would disagree with the inclusion of Se7en in this list. There are no supernatural acts. Neither the Devil nor any demons appear. I have included this film for two reasons. First, it’s old enough that a lot of younger horror fans may not have seen it or heard of it. Second, as detective stories go, Se7en is closer to Angel Heart than it is to Silence of the Lambs. The movie is so steeped in religious symbolism and myth that it feels like an occult thriller.  Dante, Milton, and medieval religious philosophy form the backdrop of a movie so intense and original, it defies easy genre classification.
           

     Morgan Freeman plays Sommerset, a New York City detective on the verge of retirement. He is world weary, having his idealism and hope slowly whittled away by a life of seeing the worst that the world has to offer. Brad Pitt is Mills, an up and coming detective full of piss and vinegar and eager to prove himself.
            
     They are partnered up to solve a series of murders that have a religious theme. The victims are being murdered for having committed one of the seven deadly sins; lust, gluttony, sloth, pride, envy, greed and wraith. The crimes are intricate and clues left at one scene lead to another. I won’t spoil it by describing them; the revelation is the reward.
            

     In addition to a very clever script there is a great cast. Pitt and Freeman are supported by great character actors R. Lee Ermy and John C. McGinley. Kevin Spacey, decades before he would become persona non grata of Hollywood, is the movie’s enigmatic villain.  

Behind the camera there was also a lot of talent. The director, David Fichner, also directed Pitt in Fight Club and several years later directed the American remake of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Andrew Kevin Walker, who wrote the screenplay, has some other impressive genre writing credits, having worked on Brainscan, Event Horizon, Sleepy Hollow, Stir of Echos and the 2010 remake of The Wolfman. Cinematographer  Darius Khondji worked on the interesting and weird French sci-fi film, City of Lost Children, the black comedy Delicatessen, and Ninth Gate. Film editing was by Richard Francis-Bruce who worked on The Shawshank Redemption, The Witches of Eastwick, and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

The music was by Howard Shore, who among many other things composed the scores for The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome, The Fly, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, Ed Wood, Dogma, The Cell, The Departed the Lord of the Rings trilogy!!!
           
     Despite sometimes seeming like a Nine Inch Nails song come to life, Se7en is very much a noir film. Morgan Freeman, with his overcoat and slouching fedora, could have come out of any pulp story. It was nominated for an Oscar for editing, but the cinematography also plays a big part. The sets are dark, the colors are muted, the ambiance is gloomy.

The film has a depressing, oppressive feel. The sun never seems to be shining. The whole city seems noisy, wet, and dirty. I’d say, that the feel of the movie, the gloomy sense of fatalism, sticks with you long after the shock of the murders wears off. Morgan Freeman’s character warns us throughout the movie that nothing he does matters. He has spent a life trying, and failing, to stem the tide of human cruelty. With his impending retirement, he sees just what little difference he has made.

We are warned, early on, that there won’t be a happy ending.  That’s an understatement.
   





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