Unforgettable.

Rating: 8/10 (1 December 2018)

What a movie. Stark, cold and yet rich in character, development and suspense. Truly an achievement in all aspects.
Most notably I must praise the decorous performances from all actors. Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter is truly a performance for the ages, something to be remembered for its sheerly raw portrayal of such a twisted, crude, manipulative and frankly evil character. It could have very easily fallen into cliche and been corny and uninteresting, but due to Anthony Hopkins caliber as an actor and Jonathan Demme's masterful directing, it is truly a performance to which all others in its field must be compared for the decades to come. The audience feels the shrill and cruelty oozing from his every word, it is an archetypal career defining performance.
Jodie Foster was absolutely spectacular as Clarice Starling, once again. this is a career defining performance. It plays on par with Anthony Hopkins, as they spar between the glass, going to and fro between emotion, disgust, curiosity and fear. For they both feel these emotions to one another, and it gives the audience a true experience, unseen in many films. She plays the hard Agent Starling to near perfection, displaying her wonder and fear of the case, and her young naiveness but displaying that it is suppressed. A highly multi-layered character that very few actresses could perform with such gravitas and capability.
The rest of the cast must be commended, for they all deliver in their respective strengths. Most notably Scott Glenn as Jack Crawford and the other prison inmates. As well as Ted Levine as Buffalo Bill, playing the confused, conflicted and disgusting character whose emotions and frustrations for not being let a sex change led him to take 'revenge' on women. I believe that Ted Levine delivers this moral inner conflict extremely well, most notably when he is silent, in particular the dancing scene where it is only him and a woman's scalp upon his head. Truly disgusting but absolutely masterful acting and film making.
The directing by Jonathan Demme very much shines through into the final product. Although I have not seen his other features, his style is highly distinctive as is shown within the film. When put in tandem with the cinematography, the extreme closeups on faces and the lack of many wide shots makes the feature feel constricted, like a lack of breathing space. This works to its advantage, as it adds to the fear, bemusement and harrowing nature of the subject matter. Then when it does pan into larger atmospheres, it indicates that turmoil is to come. Such as how the holding facility in Tennessee for hannibal Lecter is an open room, then it devolves into calculated chaos.
This clever use of cinematography works as great strength to the film, further aided by Howard Shore's distressing score. It truly compliments the film and does not dictate emotion, it heightens them. As it works with the film and not for it, this makes it stand out within the Horror/Thriller genre.
The more technical aspects, such as the sound design all are eerie to further heighten the distressing suspense and are great additions to the feature. The costumes are all well designed and help to compliment the character traits, most notably with Ted Levine and Clarice Starling they help to indicate their characterisation and emotional story, particularly where they start in the beginning of the film as characters.
Although I greatly enjoyed this feature, it has some weaker aspects. Hannibal Lecter disappears for a good portion of the film, and as he of such note in his long disappearance it actually somewhat detracts from the film. However when he reappears it is a exceedingly good moment. The film portrays the violence extremely gruesomely, which I understand it part of the narrative and genre but does not match up with my taste exactly, but I understand why it is as prevalent as it is and I cant criticise it as filmmaking since this simply a personal view of mine.
I felt as if some characters were only servants to further Starlings characterisation, although the scenes in which this takes place are effective, those other characters feel a little wasted, such as Anthony Heald as Frederick Chilton, although his characters final fate is highly effective, but also Jack Crawford felt a little too bland as a character and not developed as strongly as could have been, but this doesn't detract from the film much as his characterisation is present but not as strong as it had the potential to be.
On the whole I very much liked this film, the acting, directing, score, sound and screenplay are all great strengths to make such as stark and memorable film. I would definitely recommend this film and give it a truly good and firm 8/10