This director was a hot indie commodity in the late 90s, finding his greatest success in Three Kings, which I should really re-watch since it’s been so long. Then it took him 5 years to release his divisive comedy I Heart Huckabees (I fall on the side that finds it brilliant and hilarious and possibly the best work Mark Wahlberg has ever done). Then, he took a 6-year hiatus, only to return with the smash hit The Fighter, a reunion with Wahlberg and the biggest success by far of Russell’s career.
Silver Linings Playbook marks a return to the prolific output Russell was once known for, coming 2 years after The Fighter, and he’s apparently working on a new project that could see a release at the end of this year. Not only is he producing these excellent works at a remarkable rate now, he’s speaking candidly and clearly in interviews about his desire to find emotional connections in his movies, something that may have been lacking in previous work, particularly Huckabees, which was one issues detractors had with it. There’s a tendency among film people to sort of raise one’s nose at movies that are dramatic and emotional rather than an intellectual exercise, but this snobbery is counterproductive to the creation of lasting art that people will find meaning in beyond studying it in a classroom vacuum.
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