Hi everyone,
My favourite film of all time is one that I always have to defend,
and that is Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence. This was
the film that divided critics, and stumped many filmgoers. However,
it was to me a film that had so much depth and undercurrents that it
drew me, together with a motley group of people from all over the
world, from USA to England, from Singapore to Netherlands, to an
online forum as we searched for clozure from a film that refused to
leave us long after we had left the theatre. There were doctors among
us, authors, lecturers, film students and other professionals, but
something about the film drew us every day for 3 full years, as we
discussed the philosophical ramifications of this one film. It was
amazing, but every day for three full years, we all managed to
discover new insights about the film. It was just amazing discussing
the film at depth.
I thought Spielberg's screenplay and direction were impeccable. Haley
Joel Osment's turn as the mecha child remains one of the most
incredible performances by a child actor, ever, and it was a shame he
did not even garner an Oscar nomination for it. John Williams'
evocative score should also have won the Oscar that year, and the
cinematography for the film was beautiful.
Curiously, the third act of the film (which everyone said was pure
Spielbergian, mawkish and overly sentimental, and which apparently
destroyed Kubrick's original vision of the film) was actually filmed
the way Kubrick wrote it. Spielberg did not change the ending at all
and filmed it as Kubrick had outlined it in its 20 years of
conception by the late auteur. And to me, it was this very third act
that gave the film its heart and soul.
8 years on since its theatrical release, I still cannot watch the
film without having a tremendous flood of emotions overwhelm me. And
I know that I am not the only one on MOPO who was similarly moved by this film.
As for its iconic movie poster, it still remains one of my favourite
movie posters of all time :)
daniel
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