Movie Poster

A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

# Review

The story follows FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) who is tasked by the Behavioral Science Unit to profile Dr. Hannibal Lector (Anthony Hopkins), an imprisoned cannibal, in a bid to capture Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), a serial killer on the loose.

If I could describe the film with one word it’d be “unsettling”. Everything from the macabre imagery of the murders to the subtle threatening soundtrack provokes a sense of unease. My favourite part of the film is by far the acting of Hopkins; while Hopkins was rarely in the film, the scenes with him were breathtaking. Lector is charming and cunning, but also sadistic and remorseless. Foster’s Starling is a perfect foil that draws out the full extent of Hopkin’s Lector and the interactions between the two characters are some of the best dialogues in cinema history. In fact, Hopkins was so convincing as a cannibal killer Martha Stewert broke up with him in real life and Foster was genuinely offended and afraid of him on camera. While Hopkins’ Lector was by far the star of the show, one would be remiss to dismiss Ted Levine’s character who was unsettling in his own way. Overall the casting and performances were both superb.

The cinematography is amazing at portraying tension and stress; the uncomfortably long and closeups on both Hopkins and Foster were some of my favourite scenes in the movie.

# Conclusion

A gripping film that earned its Oscars.

# Overall rating: 8.4

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