Witness (1985)
Directed by Peter Weir
While protecting an Amish boy—the sole witness to a brutal murder—and his mother, a detective is forced to seek refuge within their community when his own life comes under threat.
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What critics compared Witness to
Like Millie Bobby Brown, in “Stranger Things,” Dafne Keen seems both haunted and haunting, her reticence blended with a fierce glare; there are echoes, too, of the young Lukas Haas, in “Witness” (1985).
Unfortunately, his presence brings an attack by German troops, and you can guess how well the spears and arrows of the Amazons stack up against the German’s rifles (this invasion reminds me of the 1985 film Witness, in which the peace of an Amish community is disrupted by worldly troubles decided not of their own making).
Meanwhile, The Last Samurai lifts the nursing-from-injury/courtship/surrogate father cycle whole from Peter Weir's Witness (an accidental voyeur moment nearly shot-for-shot), marking the piece as over-familiar even as the realization that we are in this film only about sixty-years before the Japanese begin their massacre of the Chinese at the onset of WWII provides the piece a sort of ambivalence that compels as the one thing truly its own.
It opened like something out of Witness, a bucolic scene as a bunch of Northern Irish extras built a barn and all was harmony and peace.
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When Cobb fails in his mission because his wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard, "Public Enemies"), a 'projection' of his own subconscious, turns on him, Saito takes his architect, Nash (Lukas Haas, "Witness," "Brick").
(I am thinking here of Peter Weir's cinematic point of view in Witness for example, although a notable exception to this rule is American film produced during the 1970s.)
As the ship moves from place to place, the action is staged with great physical energy by director Peter Weir, a man whose previous works (including "Witness", "The Truman Show" and "Fearless") would hardly lead one to believe that he could possibly be the right person for the job.
Over the years, Mr. Weir has acquired a deserved reputation for tackling difficult subjects, though despite such praiseworthy efforts as The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), Witness (1985) and The Truman Show (1998), I have felt just as often that his reach has exceeded his grasp.
Director Weir (Witness, The Truman Show ) hones the story’s focus to laserlike intensity.
Australian helmer Peter Weir (Witness, Dead Poets Society) creates a traditional, nuanced tale concerning the masculine virtues needed for leadership, victory, and progress.
His other films include "Witness," in which cop Harrison Ford mingles with the Amish, and "The Truman Show," in which Jim Carrey doesn't realize he's living in a TV show.
Director Peter Weir is drawn to converging themes and cultures -- cop genre violence and Amish pacifism in "Witness," for instance.
Mr. Weir (''Picnic at Hanging Rock,'' ''The Year of Living Dangerously'' and ''Witness,'' among others) obtains some very good performances from the younger actors, particularly from Mr. Leonard, and from Norman Lloyd, who plays the headmaster.
Director Peter Weir ("Witness," "The Year of Living Dangerously") and screenwriter Thom Schulman do a marvelous job of delineating the various characters so that we know each one, and though the film is a bit long (two hours, 10 minutes), given the nature of the material, and there are a few recognizable stereotypes and predictable moments from too many coming-of-age films, "Dead Poets Society" nevertheless is ultimately moving and has an ending that will leave the audience thinking as it leaves the theater.
It is perfectly structured, and held together by a pulsating synth score by Maurice Jarre and the intellectual clarity of Weir, something that went AWOL during "Dead Poets Society" but was back with a vengeance in "The Truman Show".
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Director Peter Weir, who previously helped stars like Harrison Ford (Witness) and Robin Williams (Dead Poets Society) achieve serious-actor status, does not tell a story so much as noodle a theme, and his awkward reliance on old Philip Glass tunes could distract and annoy anyone already familiar with Powaqqatsi and Anima Mundi .
Weir's greatest popular successes, Witness and Dead Poets Society, were bogus, overly serious outings with almost none of the emotional richness they claimed for themselves.
Weir himself has been nominated thrice by the Academy (Green Card for writing, Dead Poets and Witness for direction).
Working from an exceptionally good script by Andrew Niccol (the 34-year-old New Zealander wrote and directed "Gattaca" ), Weir ( "The Year of Living Dangerously," "Witness" ) moves us seamlessly through this unusual premise, never veering from the central idea.
Think of Mel Gibson's journalist in Indonesia in "The Year of Living Dangerously," Harrison Ford's cop in an Amish community in "Witness," even Jeff Bridges as a plane crash survivor who can't readjust to normal life in "Fearless."
Director Peter Weir ("Gallipoli," "The Year of Living Dangerously" "Witness") has created a whale of a good movie, a rich, entertaining, thoughtful work that is at once lyrical and ominous.