Nice. Watching these old B&W silents is quite dreamlike, especially with dramatic lighting. It's interesting how pacing has changed today. I switched to watching this at double speed so it becomes 90 mins., it almost feels natural aside from the music.
Have you seen M?
I like 2049 a lot, but I missed the grittiness of the environment in the first one. Ridley built a world of such detail & density that may never be equalled again. He even put appropriate headlines on the newspapers & magazines in the newsstands. The co-screenwriter sat in Deckard’s apartment & was struck by how all its details made it feel so lived-in. Even if we couldn't see all that detail, we felt it because it allowed the actors to “live” in such a “real” place. The environment was another character in the film.
The original script was modest, with only interior scenes. Ridley wanted to see what it was like outside, & showed us a world that could make us believe replicants could exist. The vastness of his vision grew & caused problems with the budget & crew. His perfectionism might’ve gone too far, shooting & printing almost 70 takes on one shot. Producers & crew couldn’t understand or justify it. But a few saw he was crafting every image into something exceptional.
Ridley threw himself into Blade Runner after his older brother died of cancer. He became obsessed with making its world, maybe because it was one of the few things he could control. Or maybe he just felt strongly about its theme of wanting more life, & how we should appreciate the time we have.
