Costa-Gavras’s Z is the ultimate political thriller.
And as a paranoia piece, 1969’s Z is a masterpiece.
My review after the jump.
CL
The gang is brutal in their attacks on the street people.
It’s a masterpiece of tension.
Only one bureaucrat (Jean-Louis Trintignant) offers to help prosecute those responsible.
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But Stone did not have the through-line that Gavras got with his film.
He’s a filmmaker, and he uses the techniques of cinema to deliver his message.
It’s a good lesson for anyone with a political bent interested in cinema to take.
If you want these films to work, you have to conceive of them in genre terms.
There is some level a film like this is dangerous, and it’s meant to be.
On that level there is something about it that makes me a bit uncomfortable.
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But I will settle for such a pure and gripping piece of filmmaking.
First up is a commentary with Peter Cowie.
There’s a new interview with the director Costa-Garvas (20 min.
), and a new interview with cinematographer Raoul Coutard (11 min.).
Then there’s period interviews with the author of the book Z, Vassilis Vassilikos (10 min.
and then another interview with Costa-Gavras, Perrin, and actor Pierre Dux (4 min.)
Also included is the film’s theatrical trailer, and a booklet with an essay by Armond White.
