Did I ever tell you I like films with a gimmick that isn't necessarily needed to tell the story? Well, I do. 'Lady in the Lake' is such a movie. The whole film is shot from Phillip Marlowe's POV. Instead of a voice-over it has a narration in which we actually see the actor, but instead of adding some diversity those segments also have the actor speaking directly to the camera, just like in the rest of the movie in which the other characters speak to Phillip Marlowe and look at him...and us
This Phillip Marlowe is cynic beyond description. No matter how well-meaning the people are, no matter what is said to him, he smashes it down and makes fun of what is said and of who is saying it. All of this in a mean and cold-hearted tone. This gets a bit monotonous and I thought "lighten up already", but I enjoyed his snarky comebacks (some of them even cracked me up) as well as his grumpy attitude in general. It's funny how the other characters kept coming back to him although the guy surely was no fun to be around. Especially the movie's femme fatale, if we can call her that. They simultaneously loved and hated each other. Marlowe for one mainly hated her because he didn't know if he could trust her or not. I for one enjoyed the numerous minutes in which the blonde looked at me, not only for her being pretty but she had nice exaggerated mimic.
The plot is very straight forward and probably would have made an unremarkable film if told conventionally. Naturally the structure of the plot also is straight forward and it's only in the piling up of events, clues and facts that it offers something challenging to the viewer. And although it's a bit clumsy at times I enjoyed how the plot unfolded. I felt it ended with a bang when a reoccurring line of dialogue finds its final purpose and the love/hate relationship between Marlowe comes to a satisfying conclusion.
Generally the shots go on for several minutes and quite often you can see where scenes were stitched together but I didn't mind that at all. In all its staying true to the gimmick it visually doesn't look or feel much like a film noir, despite its hard-boiled-ness.
Overall the gimmick works pretty seamlessly. The often-used effect of Marlowe looking at himself in the mirror (the camera had to always stay out of the frame) is quite convincing. Only when he is interacting with things, when we see Marlowe's hand, or smoke shoots out from under the camera as he's having a cigarette it requires a certain suspension of disbelief as the positions usually don't really work out all too greatly. And if you think about it it is a bit odd how static the camera usually is. Obviously nowadays this would be shot hand-held and in the light of this we should probably be thankful the camera is this static.
Maybe having everybody look right at you becomes a bit redundant at times, but that comes with the gimmick. It surely can't be said that the movie offers much diversity nor is it even overly inventive and adventurous in the use of its gimmick, but in spite of this it always had my attention and I had fun watching it. A big reason for this IS the gimmick, which is the source of many of the movie's pluses as well as minuses.
This Phillip Marlowe is cynic beyond description. No matter how well-meaning the people are, no matter what is said to him, he smashes it down and makes fun of what is said and of who is saying it. All of this in a mean and cold-hearted tone. This gets a bit monotonous and I thought "lighten up already", but I enjoyed his snarky comebacks (some of them even cracked me up) as well as his grumpy attitude in general. It's funny how the other characters kept coming back to him although the guy surely was no fun to be around. Especially the movie's femme fatale, if we can call her that. They simultaneously loved and hated each other. Marlowe for one mainly hated her because he didn't know if he could trust her or not. I for one enjoyed the numerous minutes in which the blonde looked at me, not only for her being pretty but she had nice exaggerated mimic.
The plot is very straight forward and probably would have made an unremarkable film if told conventionally. Naturally the structure of the plot also is straight forward and it's only in the piling up of events, clues and facts that it offers something challenging to the viewer. And although it's a bit clumsy at times I enjoyed how the plot unfolded. I felt it ended with a bang when a reoccurring line of dialogue finds its final purpose and the love/hate relationship between Marlowe comes to a satisfying conclusion.
Generally the shots go on for several minutes and quite often you can see where scenes were stitched together but I didn't mind that at all. In all its staying true to the gimmick it visually doesn't look or feel much like a film noir, despite its hard-boiled-ness.
Overall the gimmick works pretty seamlessly. The often-used effect of Marlowe looking at himself in the mirror (the camera had to always stay out of the frame) is quite convincing. Only when he is interacting with things, when we see Marlowe's hand, or smoke shoots out from under the camera as he's having a cigarette it requires a certain suspension of disbelief as the positions usually don't really work out all too greatly. And if you think about it it is a bit odd how static the camera usually is. Obviously nowadays this would be shot hand-held and in the light of this we should probably be thankful the camera is this static.
Maybe having everybody look right at you becomes a bit redundant at times, but that comes with the gimmick. It surely can't be said that the movie offers much diversity nor is it even overly inventive and adventurous in the use of its gimmick, but in spite of this it always had my attention and I had fun watching it. A big reason for this IS the gimmick, which is the source of many of the movie's pluses as well as minuses.