3) Speed Racer
It’s gratifying to see the retroactive appreciation for the Wachowskis’ crazy 2008 adaptation of Speed Racer. At the time of its release it attracted largely negative reviews, but it did garner a cult following of sorts which has taken its case to the internet and the narrative seems to be turning.
With The Matrix, the Wachowskis treated us to some hugely influential visual effects that were completely novel. In Speed Racer, they made this pretty much the entire film, and it’s understandable why people were turned off by it; I admit that I was skeptical for the first half of its duration myself. After becoming slightly more accustomed with its style, and tuning into its rhythm and frequency a little bit, it becomes a completely immersive and uniquely envisioned cinematic experience. The intercutting of certain scenes, editing them together in the same space in a fresh way, was unlike anything I’d seen before, and the racing itself is drenched in enough color and speed to make you feel the adrenaline rush of the protagonist.
The film is still one whose strengths I have a hard time articulating, but the visuals and sound are probably best left to speak for themselves.
