Stun Gun

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Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah, an Italian-mafia crime film, was perhaps the best 2008 Cannes Film Festival selection that I didn't see. (Of course, not having seen it I can't say this absolutely, but everyone spoke of it very highly.) IFC will distribute in this country. It'll probably play Toronto and then open in late September or October. Here's a 7.9 N.Y. Times story by Elizabetta Povoledo that discusses Gomorrah and another big Italian title, Il Divo.

But what's this odd-looking photo that ran with the Times piece? It looks like the shooter on the scooter is using an anti-gravitational levitation weapon that stuns the victim and causes him to float two or three feet above the ground. Of all the photos and frame captures, someone selected a still that almost suggests some kind of dark comedy or sci-fi piece? I'm not saying it fits either bill, but it certainly flirts.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 10, 2008 at 5:05 PM

comment #1

LexG says ...

HA THAT DUDE GOT OWNED.

Posted by LexG at July 10, 2008 5:41 PM

comment #2

lazespud says ...

It will be interesting if "realistic" films catch back up with true reality when it comes to people being shot. For a variety of reasons, in the first 70 years or so of the 20th century, when someone got shot, they would kind of mildly clutch themselves and then fall over.

Then with the advent of looser standards of violence coupled with stuntmen willing to be jerked violently backward by cables, we saw a new standard for people being "blown away" on film. My personal favorite of all time is the surprise shotgun shooting through the wall in Kevin Costner's Open Range, where the guy got blown into the wall on the opposite side of the alley.

Then my favorite show Mythbusters pretty conclusively proved that shooting someone would generally result in them, well, mildly clutching themselves and falling over (or at least not flying through the air.

I think as people begin to realize and recognize that people being "blown away" through the air is actually fake, we'll probably go back to a more realistic standard. Spielberg was one of the first that I can recall that ushered this in, with that murder of the naked woman in Munich. They shot her, and a tiny little hole forms on her chest, then blood comes slowly draining out, and then it comes of faster.

So this is a long way of saying that I agree completely with Jeff; this movie either should be a hyper stylized film like Wanted or Shoot'em up, or it will suck donkey balls.

Posted by lazespud at July 10, 2008 6:46 PM

comment #3

colby says ...

What about the gun shot deaths in Schindler's List? Probably the most realistic deaths on camera I have ever seen. Then again, I am no expert on what a real shooting looks like.

Posted by colby at July 10, 2008 7:22 PM

comment #4

Balthazar says ...

Is this the film about the huge flying turtle?

Posted by Balthazar at July 10, 2008 9:22 PM

comment #5

vansmith says ...

yo how could you not see this.. italian mafia crime flick, this is a must see, good or bad...

Posted by vansmith at July 11, 2008 12:30 AM

comment #6

nola says ...

Not sure why they went with that still either. The movie is very good. I hope it gets some solid exposure in the States.

Posted by nola at July 11, 2008 2:37 AM

comment #7

Breedlove says ...

It is sort of fun to watch actors get shot or killed and see how they do it. That's a good call on Schindler's List...I always think it looks realistic if people just drop super fast when they get shot. Don Cheadle does a good job of this in 'Out of Sight' when he gets shot on the stairs. It always looked very real to me.

In terms of getting blown across the room, I remember 'A Simple Plan' having a pretty over-the-top example of this.

Posted by Breedlove at July 11, 2008 9:20 AM

comment #8

BurmaShave says ...

Just rewatched it last night and can confirm the shotgun blasts in GODFATHER II are my favorite gunshot effects ever. So disconcerting to see it happen to the mother.

Posted by BurmaShave at July 12, 2008 11:57 PM

comment #9

BurmaShave says ...

Oh and PS one of the reasons I hated WANTED so much is because when you make it all about the bullets you completely lose sight of what a gun does. Might as well have been throwing baseballs at each other in slow motion.

Posted by BurmaShave at July 12, 2008 11:59 PM

comment #10