
Most of you who know me already know this, but if you don’t, I’ll tell you. I LOVE, LOVE J.J. Abrams. He is a creative mastermind who has spawned my favorite television shows and one of my top favorite films ever Star Trek (2009). So it’s no surprised that Super 8 is a film I’ve been waiting for over a year to see ever since its teaser trailer. The film ended up being completely not what I expected, but that’s totally fine with me in this case.
Super 8 isn’t Abrams’ normal composition. I would rather call it one artist’s homage to another, in this case, Abram’s homage to Steven Spielberg. Spielberg produced the movie, no surprise. I wouldn’t stop there, I’d go so far as to say it’s a homage to the imaginative films of the 70s and 80s. These films often involved children, aliens or fantastical creatures, and a little bit of adorable cheese. Super 8 had all the above. Channeling films like The Goonies, E.T., The Never Ending Story, and definitely the sci-fi aspects of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
The thing I noticed right off the bat is the excruciating attention to detail. The sets, props, costumes, everything was accurate to the time period of 1979. The entire film feels like it was not only set in that time period but also filmed during that time period. From the posters and books in the bedrooms, to the candies sold at the gas station, to the tacky fashions and furniture, everything was pitch-perfect. There were so many creative shots that involved rack focus, silhouettes, perspective. You can tell detail went into the shot list and story boards. And of course filled with Abram's signature lens flares!

It opens beautifully with a sign in a factory that says “--- Days Since Last Accident” It had something like 600+ and a worker takes down the numbers and puts up the number 1. That immediately hooked me. That’s a perfect example of how you show instead of tell in film. We then move to the scene of a funeral. Young Joseph Lamb sits sullenly on a swing set in his front yard in the dead of winter. He is a black spot within the snow drift. I really like this introduction. Everyone is inside discussing and consoling the death of his mother, but he’s out alone in the cold. He looks longingly at his mother’s locket, an item much like a glorified security blanket for him. This is the introduction portrait to his character.


The children were well-cast and funny and the smorgasbord of side-characters were all entertaining and unique. The family dynamics and relationships held together with realism even in the midst of a child-like science fiction piece. Joe’s friend Charles, who is the director of the super 8 zombie film, was a great caricature of film directors. The train blows up and he’s screaming about the focus ring falling off. There were so many wonderful filmmaking in-jokes. I am sure this had some of Spielberg’s own autobiography laced in.
Elle Fanning (younger sister of Dakota Fanning) had a quiet elegance about her, even when acting alongside a bunch of dirty boys, as she played the role of Alice. Her father Louis is a drunk who slept in and missed his shift the morning Joe’s mother was killed, it would have been him working had she not picked it up. Her father is a direct opposite of Joe’s father, however both parallel in their grief. Louis’ wife left him and Alice years ago and of course Jackson’s wife was killed. You see throughout the film how both men are shown dealing with their loss, and the awkwardness of their role in their children’s lives, in two very different ways. In the end, they come to terms with their place and with their love for their children. It’s kind of a cheesy ending, but that’s true to the style of this film and the time period and genre it’s emulating.

A lot of people just want to come to movies, particularly in summer, to see things blow up and die. While Super 8 has that going on, it’s not about that at all in the end. It’s about a boy’s journey to letting go. Throw in some geeky cheese, a unique script, and flawless production design and you have what I call the most original film of the year.
Haha! Awesome! I had forgotten about this film coming. How could I forget a JJ film?! Anyway, great review! It sounds like an incredible film and I really want to see it now. And Kyle Chandler! :D hahahahaha! Great times. He looks good, though. ;)
ReplyDeleteI think this movie, artistically and cinematically and stylistically, sounds amazing because it is so character-based! Good ol JJ. He never disappoints. It is like Sci fi 80s family cheese films as they should have been! Hehe!
I can't wait to go see it! Sounds like it's on tap for this weekend!
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