Saturday, September 2, 2023 - 3:39 AM CDT

Why couldn't this film have been better? The scene where we see Fatima for the first time with Sala Al Din has such poor shot composition an inexperienced layman could have done a better job. Great sequences with stale tv standard sequences. One could tell DePalma couldn't get to make the film he wanted. Better if he stayed in Hollywood.

Saturday, September 2, 2023 - 10:30 AM CDT

You're being harsh on a perfectly fine scene - I just looked at it again - It starts with a circling camera on the back of Salah Al Din's head as he's speaking, moves around to the front to reveal an iPhone set up on a tripod behind him. And then the rest is individual medium shots of the three characters in the room as they speak or listen.

Saturday, September 2, 2023 - 4:50 PM CDT

Just my opinion. Any first year film students could have come up with a better compositions. 

Sunday, September 3, 2023 - 8:05 AM CDT

I'm sure that if one of them had been on set that day and had some other inventive idea about how to shoot this two-minute apartment scene, De Palma would have been all ears.

Sunday, September 3, 2023 - 4:21 PM CDT

After getting his budget slashed for Domino DePalma had said they weren't equipped to get the shots and camera set ups he wanted so I can cut him some slack. I'm still hoping DePalma gets to make The Demolished Man as his swan song. I still think Domino is still one of the best premise DePalma had in a while but the production had many set backs.

Monday, September 4, 2023 - 5:31 PM CDT

I reawatched the scene and I do agree there is something awkward in the way that character is introduced, although more in a narrative sense than the actual shots.

On the other hand it is followed by a beautiful shot of Ebouanay shaving. 

But then we get the scene where he breaks down the door and a slightly silly chase of the terrorist around the kitchen table. 

Which is then followed to a brilliant shot of Ebouanay watching an ISIS-video on his phone in his car. 

I guess  my conclusion is that it's a film that goes from low to high points. But all in all I really like the film. 

Monday, September 4, 2023 - 5:37 PM CDT

I forgot to mention we than get into the festival massacre scene which is a very good scene, but particularly jarring in that it feels like it has no build up before we're in the middle of the shooting. 

Friday, September 29, 2023 - 1:51 AM CDT

Will the director's cut of Domino ever be released to the general public and restore the battered image of the director. Will the three hour cut of The Black Dahlia see the light of day which James Ellroy called a masterpiece: