Note: This critique disregards the poorly spelled subtitles in the video clip.

 

For the purposes of this critique I would like to split my points and subjects into categories. These subjects are: Significance within the story, Acting/Characters, Cinematography, and Sound. With that said, let's begin.

 

The story of 12 Monkeys centers around a man named James Cole (Bruce Willis) who is sent back in time from the post-apocalypse future to locate information about a virus. Taking a realistic approach to this, the process leaves a disorientated Cole stuck in the modern day where the police authority quickly determine his insanity and condemn him to an asylum, Cole’s intro to the asylum is the scene we are watching. Most of the scene is fairly clear as to its intentions of establishing this area and the characters, such as Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt). There is, however one incredibly important scene involving a character named L.J. Washington (Frederick Strother). When we meet him for the first, and last, time L.J. tells Cole about his delusion, which only just so happens to be one of the central themes of the movie. L.J. describes the delusion as “A case of mental divergence”. The part about Planet Ogo is relevant as well, only later. This conversation makes the audience wonder whether Cole’s continuous returns to the future are real, or if he really is just a lunatic with a case of mental divergence. This path even reaches the point where Cole himself no longer believes that the future is real. We do learn the answer before Cole, which lets us feel and taste how switching timelines and realities has fractured his mind in an irreversible way. The future is Cole’s Planet Ogo, an impossible place that only he can perceive as a reality. As L.J. says “When I stop going there, I will find peace”.

 

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As for acting their is a stand out performance in this film/scene which is Brad Pitt’s portrayal of Jeffrey Goines. His over the top yet completely convincing acting perfectly fits a post-python Terry Gilliam and the tone he tries to establish his brilliant movies. Whenever I hear someone saying that Brad Pitt can’t act I direct them to 12 Monkeys (and Burn after Reading, among others) because of his incredibly convincing performance and clear demonstration of talent and passion, the best traits for an actor to have. But Brad Pitt isn’t the only great performance in this movie, that torch goes to Bruce Willis as well, surprisingly. This is one of the few movies where Bruce Willis actually plays a character and has to act making this quite a rare role for him to play yet he pulls it off. In the introduction to the asylum he says very little as he’s introduced to a branch of humanity in not only an alien and unfamiliar world where he is already confused and lost, but a group of people that he never saw or heard of in his timeline. Bruce Willis pulls off this mixture of emotions with silence, but we still can tell what he feels and is thinking. As the film progresses the performance only gains more layers and drama.

 

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Now for the cinematography. We start the scene with a dark hallway shot with a flat and side angle that, while bland, is an effective way to show a simple connecting shot. When we enter the main room the audience gets to experience one of Terry Gilliam's main strengths as a director, using background noise and camera movement to further exemplify the point of the scene. Almost every shot is at an angle giving the scene a sense of alienation and confusion. Another detail is how the camera is never looking down at the characters. The camera usually points up towards the actors making them feel larger and forcing us to focus in on them. When the camera isn’t pointing up it is a tilted level shot, this is usually used for the more focused character dialogues.

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The background sounds is a minor but, interesting and fun section where I will cover two instances within the scene where Terry Gilliam uses the white noise to add fun synchronicity with the subjects in the scene. The first is when Jeffrey gets worked up for the second time in the scene, you can hear the cartoon (which is tied to Jeffrey throughout the scene) music and slapstick noises increase as Jeffrey gets louder and more energetic. When Jeffrey accidently walks into the fence after being threatened with a shot, the crashing noise ends the cartoon background music as well. The second is when L.J. is talking to Cole you can hear a bird singing very quietly in the background, maybe this signifies the insanity or maybe I’m reading to far into things.

 

Overall this is a great scene in what I would definitely call one of the best Sci-Fi movies ever and the second best time travel movie ever. Primer cannot be beat in that category. Thank you for reading and I wish you a good morning, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.