MovieChat Forums > '71 (2014) Discussion > even better the second time around

even better the second time around

posted 10 years ago by cody_lightning
4 replies | jump to latest

i think the first time i genuinely had trouble understanding the dialogue a lot of the times. there is the accent to contend with and the terseness of it generally.

the second time around i watched with an audience who gasped in the right places and laughed in others. i appreciated the existential absurdity of the situation a bit more and the way the story spins the familiar trope of a lost soldier. i could work out better who was trying to protect what interest and it all made much more sense. phew!

my favourite moments kind of remained my favourite moments. hook hiding in the outhouse, the tenderness after somebody gets knifed, the empty shell of interconnect terraced houses, a sheen of civilisation and nothing behind it. i think the overall familiarity of the setting subverted by the hellish imagery. in this way it reminds me of children of men.

i'm still pretty sad it's not made more of a splash. i wonder if the marketing is simply conservative for reasons of sensitivity but who knows.

[–] NoTaste 10 years ago

Spot on! Seems to show a harsh reality that most of us on the mainland missed at the time. Amazingly told and filmed. You're right, it's not being advertised, I only saw it through film listings when nothing else was on, but I absolutely loved it (although my wife would rather have seen the David Tennant, Billy Connolly thing).

[–] cody_lightning 10 years ago

did you notice the soundtrack? the first time around i was so absorbed with the images that i had no time for the music!😨

[–] JohnnyWeissmuller 10 years ago

I'm looking forward to seeing '71 for a second time, although I consider it to be among 2014's best movies. I also think it's a bit of a shame that it didn't perform better at the box office, because movies so well crafted, intelligent, topical and involving deserve to be seen. Or at least have the opportunity to be seen. But that will be rectified, somewhat, when it's released on DVD/Blu-ray and is subsequently shown on television.

NOW TARZAN MAKE WAR!

[–] boogles 10 years ago

I saw it last week. I agree that it's a very good movie - a tense tight little thriller. I think it only got a limited box office release(so it's rep cinemas that were showing it mainly).