A stunningly good movie for evolved souls

Rating: 10/10 (5 February 2006)

I've just seen the 3-hour version of Meet Joe Black for the second time. It improves with re-viewing. What I find amazing about this story, and about the way it has been executed on film is its gorgeously rendered mix of: subtle yet passionate performances (all of them, including supporting cast), perfectly chosen and applied music, idealistic but utterly believable characters whom you wish you knew personally and whom you can care about, and the "production values" (rich yet subdued cinematography ~ in particular the graceful, gradually unfolding, almost spiritual PACE that is so well geared to this story, rather than to the "attention span of a flea" unfortunately created within so many movie viewers by their having been bombarded with 30-second TV ads for their entire lives. (READING an actual book REALLY takes a lot of time too, this is called "literature.") Hence, most likely, the complaints about this movie being "too long," which I find utterly baffling. In the hands of a lesser director and producer, the special effects geeks might also have slimed their way into this production and removed all traces of subtlety. Hooray ~ this DIDN'T happen, either. And, since the major characters are all gradually revealed as being awake, conscious, perceptive beings (as well as being complicated flawed human beings) ~ none of them are forced to fit into the false American "belief" that bigger and faster are automatically better (they aren't). In summary, this is a delicious meal of a movie for grownups who love a good story and who don't cynically believe that idealism, love and spirituality are "boring."