I've always known that Shawshank is a truly exceptional piece of filmmaking. It's just not everyday that you go on a course to learn intimately and precisely why. And a pretty eye-opening experience that was too. Never before had I appreciated the minutia of what makes this film so exquisite, and so spending 8 hours in the company of one of Hollywood's greatest storytelling analysts was always going to result in more than a few revelations. What's impressive is just the sheer precision of Shawshank; from the colours, the dialogue, and the positioning of shots to the story motifs and hidden moments of foretelling (technical term: slingshots). And most surprisingly of all, at the centre of this impressive storytelling web, is a director making his first feature length movie, and making it well. His cast have long been recognised for their strength of performances in this film, and rightly so, with arguably this being the role that really cemented Morgan Freeman's place in Hollywood. Shawshank is far from a one man show though, and in fact, perhaps the biggest star is director Frank Darabont himself, pulling together a quite sublime piece of cinema, a glorious orchestral movement of a story, and one which should rightly forever remain one of the greatest ever made.
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| Good as these guys are, they haven't quite got the hang of curling... |
| Vital Statistics |
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| Director | Frank Darabont |
| Cast | Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton |
| Length | 142 mins |
| Post Credits Scene | No |
| TFC Mash-Up | Cool Hand Luke plus The Great Escape times Prison Break minus Law Abiding Citizen |
| Star Rating |
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