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thedudeabides

13Apr12

Billy Wilder and the most obscure side of cinema.

Jyoti

4Apr12

More gothic than noir, there's a wonderful sense of decay throughout the film.

Cinematic Cteve

25Mar12

Life Imitates Art on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams: http://cinemauprising.blogspot.com/2009/06/life-imitates-art-on-boulevard-of.html

One of the most finely written movie I've ever seen, but I don't really think the voice-over was of any use, because it was doing nothing else to say with words what we could already see with images. The few moments without the voice-over are pure moments of cinematic grace. Gloria Swanson plays one of the most scary femme fatale characters I've seen (along with Better Davis or Joan Crawford). Incredible ending.

bleadof

5Feb12

Four stars and I'm not quite sure why I'm giving that many. It's good, don't get me wrong, but there were times when I was looking at my clock and wondering when it might end. Probably, the stellar performance of Gloria Swanson, kept me interested throughout - she's awesome. My favorite scene is where she is entertaining William Holden and does her Charlie Chaplin impression. It's definitely worth a look.

ana kinukawa

4Feb12

Amazing how there's no definitive position in this film. Who is the bad guy? Who knows! People are always people, reigned by ambition, pride, passion, fear, kindness, pity, love. Each character shows this precisely. Billy Wilder's geniality is expressed through his actors, his images and his amazing soundtrack, which goes perfectly with the psychological thriller. Simply beautiful.

Anton Williams

19Jan12

A promising start, a bit overextended plot, and a predictable ending.

Altero

7Jan12

Joe Gillis: You’re Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big. Norma Desmond: I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.

Vera Sophia

7Jan12

the ending is so epic

Francisco R.

30Dec11

Gloria Swanson is brilliant as her alter-ego of sorts, I loved her. I haven't realized this is actually a film noir until very recently, and the first Billy Wilder movie I see as well, I have to check more of his films now.

Howard Orr

27Dec11

A brilliant film. Gloria Swanson does her best John Barrymore from "Twentieth Century" impression in cinema's ultimate comment on the transcience of fame in a medium already stuffed with ghosts.

Nate B.

28Nov11

Amazing. It may have a few studio traits/cliches, but it manages to transcend them and be in a league of its own.

M Klein

20Nov11

Never trust a woman who thinks you've come to bury her monkey.

menencorio and 3 others like this

Marta, Ben, Cinesthesia (aka Duncan)

aperian

26Sep11

no words, just pictures.

Daniela

20Aug11

There were some really annoying parts in it that I wish were cut out, but I'll give it four stars for Gloria Swanson's acting.

Sancar Seckiner

19Aug11

The best Wilder I have ever seen.

DeJardinblum

13Aug11

Greatest Fassbinder film never directed by Fassbinder.

D_m_a_T_T

12Aug11

Norma Desmond is one of the best characters of all time. Erich Von Stroheim is unreal. Cinematographic beauty. Metafilmic depth. Brilliant script. There are few few words. Stunning. No wonder my Italian film professor could never stop talking about this movie and how important it was. Straight up citation in Visconti's "Bellissima" one year later, with the mirror shots of Anna Magnani!

Christopher Taylor

26Jul11

Erich Von Stroheim.

Taiana

13Jul11

(...) They take you, and make you. They look at you in disgusting ways. You should've never trusted Hollywood (...) All you maggots smoking fags out there on Sunset Boulevard... You should've never trusted Hollywood...

Dave

25May11

Brilliant in every way. Everything works - Wilder's and collaborator's script, the acting, the direction. Swanson and Holden are rightfully laudede, but don't overlook the brilliance of Erich von Stroeheim as Max. And the Wilder direction, teamed Seitz's photography. That opening shot - which Wilder envisioned - is enough to brand this an all-time classic, but it only gets better from there. American classic.

Larissa

9May11

Perfeito! Tenho que usar aquela velha frase de 'que não se fazem filmes como antigamente'. Sem lição de moral, sem final feliz para agradar o público - apenas uma boa história com roteiro inteligente. Perfeito! O próximo filme da minha lista é 'Amnésia' (Memento). Vergonha que eu ainda não assisti, maior vergonha ainda que você não encontra esse filme nas locadoras daqui.