Ron Does Stuff

If I’m remembering correctly — because I am an old geezer prone to forgetting or misremembering things — I’ve only ever seen this movie once and I remember enjoying it. I enjoyed it so much that I have a better opinion of it than I do the book. But maybe that’s just nostalgia? Or maybe that’s the movie’s reputation coloring my judgment? Anyways, let’s find out if I feel the same after watching it again!

Just like I remembered, those opening credits are a far cry from the ones shown in Red Dragon. It’s pretty bare and to the point, kind of like Thomas Harris’ prose, and it really sets the tone of the whole thing, I think. The image of Jodie Foster making her way up that hill (?), sweating, while the names of those men flash above her, is certainly striking.

A lot of much more intelligent movie watchers have already pointed this out years before me, but it really is wild how small they’ve made Jodie Foster look, even against the other female extras. She really does look like this diminutive thing that couldn’t possibly be the heroine of this story.

I definitely do not remember the graphic images of the skinned women. And confession: I find Scott Glenn so hot here as Jack Crawford. The heart wants what the heart wants.

Anthony Heald is also so deliciously slimy here as Frederick Chilton, perhaps a little more likeable than he is in the book where he’s really made to look so despicable. That makeup job they did to him on Red Dragon was really a disservice because it made him look like a clown, although that may have been the intention.

The sound when Clarice gets taken down to where Lecter is something I don’t remember either, and it really does add to the unsettling feeling. I can’t tell if it’s a musical piece that’s part of the soundtrack or just the sounds you hear in a basement full of machines, but it really does add to the atmosphere.

And when Hannibal and Clarice finally face each other? It really is electric. You can see the fear that Clarice is trying to hide in the way Jodie Foster tilts her head and the way her voice seems to waver, and Anthony Hopkins really does feel like he’s channeling a vampire in this one.

Comparing this to the chemistry between Edward Norton and Anthony Hopkins in Red Dragon, there really is a lot of difference. However, I don’t blame that on the actors but on Brett Ratner, who I feel just wanted to bludgeon the viewers with the tension rather than letting it build on its own. I just love understated performances like the one Jodie’s delivering here! I’m a Nora Aunor fan!

The movie also takes some liberties with the book’s plot that I think really improved on it. I mention this in my review of The Silence of the Lambs book, but that Raspail-Jame Gumb connection could have been streamlined and it wouldn’t have detracted from the book’s story.

I don’t know who was up for the Best Supporting Actor Award during the year this was nominated for the Oscars, but the actor playing Jame Gumb should have gotten some recognition somewhere. I don’t know if that’s his actual voice or something he put on but it’s got that unnatural quality to it that just fits the character.

Here’s yet another of those shots that really brings out the challenges that Clarice encounters in the book because she’s a woman. Her height’s never really mentioned in the book, there’s no mention of other officers towering over her, but there is judgment, and it’s utilizing shots like these throughout the movie that bring that out so efficiently. It’s this point of view that was lacking from the Red Dragon adaptation.

It’s this efficiency that I really like in this film. It’s also present in the introduction to Jame Gumb’s lair, where so much is conveyed in such a short time. Just the camera going through different rooms without even a ~shocking~ focus on any items. All of it is just to build up Jame Gumb, who we get to see nude in the center of the shot.

However, I also do have to admit that this current viewing of The Silence of the Lambs has also been heavily colored by Katya Zamolochikova’s obsession with this film. When it got to the phantom limb scene? Senator love the suit? I was cackling.

Also, when they got to the “Did Frederica ever mention a Jame Gumb?” I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. All I could see in my head was Trixie Mattel in the Ding Dong! music video.

And these things I feel just made the viewing experience better for me? The fact that other artists are still inspired by it to create something else just shows how good it is and how much it’s stood the test of time.

When they get to the part where Clarice is in Jame’s home I was also struck by how ordinary the house seemed from the outside, and how great a decision that was by Jonathan Demme. Because a lot of the killers are usually like that, right? Everyone who knew them would say they didn’t know he had all the in him because he looked so normal from the outside. Compare that to the exterior of Dolarhyde’s home in Red Dragon, where it’s pretty fucking obvious that a bad person lives here.

I also really liked how frightened Clarice is during that final confrontation in the basement but she pushes past that fear. It’s such a small thing but it’s something that a lot of “strong female character” movies seem to miss nowadays. Not that having a female character be cold is bad or something. It’s just that the pendulum always swings to the extreme and I wish women characters and the actresses who play them were given a wider range to play with.

All in all, this is still as good as I remembered and has stood the test of time better than the book, at least in my opinion. Definitely a must-watch!