A challenging film, and not for the squeamish

Rating: 8/10 (6 June 2006)

It's grisly. It's gory. It's grimy, gritty and gloomy. It's Frank Miller's "Sin City", and it's not rated 'G'. But despite all the seemingly negative adjectives, this is a stylish film; a film that is as much, or maybe more, about visual form than it is about narrative content. Many viewers--most, probably--will find it difficult, if not impossible, to separate the form from the content, but for those who can, or are willing to try, this is a film worth seeing. But be warned: it's not for the thin-skinned, tenderhearted or squeamish.
"Sin City", short for, or perhaps a better name for, Basin City, is a place where crooked cops, hookers, thugs, hard-boiled characters and tough language abound; a place that comes with its own form of law; its own form of justice. Based on Mr. Miller's graphic novel (read: comic book), it's a remarkable piece of film-making, despite the level of violence, which some would argue is too much--a point with which I would not wholly disagree. Yet beyond that is a neo-film noir, and one that--also arguably--is, or should be, defined more by its stylistic elements than by its narrative development.
Shot on digital video, which may make the use of the word 'film' a bit of a misnomer, most of what you see doesn't really exist. Backgrounds and graphic elements were created and designed to be absolutely faithful to the original comic book look and inserted in what's known as 'green screen' technique, based on an old Hollywood trick called a 'traveling matte' (which used a blue screen), and later adapted for television, where characters are shot in front of a green screen,with the green later being replaced by the backgrounds during post production. The technique allows for the original style graphics to be created separately from the main action, giving the director much more freedom and much more control over the final image. Hollywood's traveling matte system was used more as a cost-saving device that allowed actors to be placed against any stock footage background from of any location in the world, without having to actually get them there. Now, it's a technique that plays directly and in this case, very effectively into the very essence of digital film-or-video making.
Though co-directed by Mr. Miller and Robert Rodriguez ("El Mariachi"; "From Dusk Till Dawn"), with a scene directed by 'special guest' Quentin Tarantino (who was paid one dollar), the film is consistent in its approach, and bold, very bold, in its style. Primarily and particularly noticeable is that the film is in black and white with splashes of color highlights: a red dress; green eyes; a two-tone '57 Chevy station wagon (Mr. Miller was born in 1957)--it is captivating to watch, maybe inexplicably so. Replete with comic book style visual foregrounding, wide angle perspectives and wonderful pulp novel dialogue, combined with cinematic techniques of high-contrast shots, odd, dutch angles and silhouette lighting, "Sin City" is a tale of justice, vengeance and retribution. and one that is both visually and aurally cynical.
Several loosely connected, related episodes are linked together in a plot structure that is book-ended by the plight of John Hartigan (Bruce Willis), the only honest cop left in Sin City. With a bad case of angina and soon to retire, he takes on one more case, only to be gunned down by his own partner Bob (Michael Madsen.) The story then picks up on the leonine, and very large, Marv (a virtually unrecognizable, Mickey Rourke), who is, no doubt, the king of all the beasts who inhabit Sin City. Toss in a few other colorful--though still black and white--characters--Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro) a crazy, corrupt cop; Dwight (Clive Owen) a tough and loyal ex-journalist, and Kevin the cannibal (Elijah Wood), and you get an improbable, yet effective plot.
Still, questions about "Sin City's" depictions of violence will arise, and criticisms will be leveled, and making judgements may not be easy, nor as black and white, as the film itself. To watch it, viewers will be viscerally challenged; but to understand it, the challenge will be intellectual.
© 2005