The Silence of the Lambs may very well be the greatest film ever made.

Rating: Null/10 (15 April 2001)

Very rarely do a first-rate cast and a good director come together to bring life to an absolutely terrific script as they do in The Silence of the Lambs. Ted Tally's screenplay is a brilliant adaptation to a good book. It is unmatched in its use of characterization. Anthony Hopkins delivers the greatest, most riveting performance ever, as the psychotic Dr. Hannibal `Cannibal' Lecter. Jodie Foster also delivers a brilliant, subtle performance as the FBI trainee, Clarice Starling. Ted Levine does a wonderful job as the disturbed Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb. Jonathan Demme's direction is good; his close-ups of various actors' faces are well done and well placed in the film. Howard Shore gives a wonderfully haunting musical score. Tak Fujimoto's cinematography is also first-rate. His use of lights, especially red lights, is very effective. The editing by Craig McKay is terrific, particularly the intercutting between the exterior of the wrong house in Calumet City and the interior of the right house in Belvedere, Ohio. All of these aspects make The Silence of the Lambs one of the greatest, if not the greatest film ever made.
10/10