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<blockquote data-quote="Willie Oleson" data-source="post: 415528" data-attributes="member: 8">A HAUNTING IN VENICE (2023)[ATTACH=full]55150[/ATTACH]No spoilers in this post.Let&#039;s start with the good: the satisfying conclusion.But to get&nbsp; there...oh boy!Personally, I think these eventful whodunits get the best results with a healthy dose of exaggeration, humour, flamboyance and bitchiness.Haunting&nbsp; does the opposite.The characters are almost uniform in looks and performance: the serious-whispery speech delivery, hair and makeup, wardrobe, and anything else that could give a character a distinctive place in the story.This results in a bland pap to look at, but it also affects the story because it made me realise almost from the very beginning that there would be little excitement in the big reveal because all these characters are kind of interchangeable.You&#039;d think that a place like Venice adds a lot of atmosphere - it doesn&#039;t. &quot;Going gothic&quot; doesn&#039;t mean that darkness needs to obscure all sense of place. It happens in a big house but I couldn&#039;t see where-was-what, therefore the alibi thing doesn&#039;t work here at all.The camera work does not help to enhance this film, in fact it&#039;s pretty bad.I usually love strange angles but not when it happens with a lot of movement simultaneously. Presumably it is done to create a disorientating effect, but the &quot;dis&quot; part only works when there&#039;s a sense of orientation to begin with.Furthermore, instead of beautiful mise en scène full-room shots almost all dialogue is shot in close-up. I love to watch actors who are not the focus in a scene to stay in character, but there&#039;s none of that here.If the film had a score then I haven&#039;t noticed it.I find A Haunting In Venice shockingly bad.The only interesting thing that happens has more to do with this forum. Marley Drama was thinking of Gone With The Wind&nbsp; while I was watching it.This film mentions Meet Me In St. Louis&nbsp;&nbsp; and the Trolley Song, and for a very short moment I was seriously entertained.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Willie Oleson, post: 415528, member: 8"] A HAUNTING IN VENICE (2023) [ATTACH type="full"]55150[/ATTACH] [B]No[/B] spoilers in this post. Let's start with the good: the satisfying conclusion. But to [I]get[/I] there...oh boy! Personally, I think these eventful whodunits get the best results with a healthy dose of exaggeration, humour, flamboyance and bitchiness. [I]Haunting[/I] does the opposite. The characters are almost uniform in looks and performance: the serious-whispery speech delivery, hair and makeup, wardrobe, and anything else that could give a character a distinctive place in the story. This results in a bland pap to look at, but it also affects the story because it made me realise almost from the very beginning that there would be little excitement in the big reveal because all these characters are kind of interchangeable. You'd think that a place like Venice adds a lot of atmosphere - it doesn't. "Going gothic" doesn't mean that darkness needs to obscure all sense of place. It happens in a big house but I couldn't see where-was-what, therefore the alibi thing doesn't work here at all. The camera work does not help to enhance this film, in fact it's pretty bad. I usually love strange angles but not when it happens with a lot of movement simultaneously. Presumably it is done to create a disorientating effect, but the "dis" part only works when there's a sense of orientation to begin with. Furthermore, instead of beautiful mise en scène full-room shots almost all dialogue is shot in close-up. I love to watch actors who are not the focus in a scene to stay in character, but there's none of that here. If the film had a score then I haven't noticed it. I find [I]A Haunting In Venice [/I] shockingly bad. The only interesting thing that happens has more to do with this forum. Marley Drama was thinking of [I]Gone With The Wind [/I] while I was watching it. [U]This[/U] film mentions [I]Meet Me In St. Louis[/I] and the Trolley Song, and for a very short moment I was seriously entertained. [/QUOTE]

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