Black Beauty; a classic of a movie. But for the life of me, I cannot understand why: "I Was Bored".
There is some rather phenominal cinematography in places which reminded me of the shots that Milo and Otis achieved. And the story line is alright, I think, but it is hard to tell under the surface veneer which is so sooty and tarnished. The central problem with this film was the way it was told. With unabashed narration. There's hardly any dialog and really no other characters than the central one who is just telling you why his life is so hard. The moving pictures are supposed to "show" you, but what the film-makers should have been told before they began is that having video is not the same thing as "showing". There was, for me, not emotional connection to the characters. There was nothing personal in its creation.
Instead, I spent most of the movie trying to decide how much abuse their equine actors sustained in the making of the movie. I don't think it was as much as one would expect, the horses rarely have their ears laid back, so at least the movie avoids that cruel irony.
There is some rather phenominal cinematography in places which reminded me of the shots that Milo and Otis achieved. And the story line is alright, I think, but it is hard to tell under the surface veneer which is so sooty and tarnished. The central problem with this film was the way it was told. With unabashed narration. There's hardly any dialog and really no other characters than the central one who is just telling you why his life is so hard. The moving pictures are supposed to "show" you, but what the film-makers should have been told before they began is that having video is not the same thing as "showing". There was, for me, not emotional connection to the characters. There was nothing personal in its creation.
Instead, I spent most of the movie trying to decide how much abuse their equine actors sustained in the making of the movie. I don't think it was as much as one would expect, the horses rarely have their ears laid back, so at least the movie avoids that cruel irony.
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