The Silence of the Lambs is not an easy movie to swallow, but it definitely provides food for thought where present-day thrillers are starving. Prepare for more eating/food jokes throughout this whole review, by the way. I have plenty of them.
It's embarrassing and sad to say this, but I had never seen this movie before a few nights ago, although its reputation far proceeded it. Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins deliver compelling performances as an aspiring FBI agent named Clarice Starling and a maniacal psychopathic killer, Hannibal Lector, who develop a precarious and curious relationship while on the heels of a serial murderer named Buffalo Bill. In desperation to find Buffalo Bill, who loves to skin women and throw them in rivers (who doesn't?), the FBI sends the eager-beaver Starling to a high-security prison to converse with Lector, once a prominent psychiatrist himself, if only to pry any criminally insane secrets from his twisted mind.
Starling's character is one so simple it's complex. At first glance she is a naive hick who couldn't wait to drop out of high school and join any organization that would let her shoot a gun at "them bad guys and such". In reality, she's a smart woman who's desperate to further her career, save lives, and gain respect from her male law-enforcement counterparts. All in a days work. Strangely, she finds the most respect and intellectual stimulation from Lector himself, who develops a protective nature over her, nearing fondness.
This movie wasn't so much scary as it was creepy and intense. Ted Levine as the flamboyant killer Buffalo Bill is an especially ghastly character. I won't give it all away, but he likes little white dogs and saying "It puts the lotion on its skin" a lot. The most memorable character, although he has actual very little screen time, is Hannibal Lector by a milestone. While some critics may point to director Jonathan Demme's earlier works as his best, he certainly didn't harm Foster or Hopkins in their paths to stardom. Now that's a movie where everybody can save face.
Starling's character is one so simple it's complex. At first glance she is a naive hick who couldn't wait to drop out of high school and join any organization that would let her shoot a gun at "them bad guys and such". In reality, she's a smart woman who's desperate to further her career, save lives, and gain respect from her male law-enforcement counterparts. All in a days work. Strangely, she finds the most respect and intellectual stimulation from Lector himself, who develops a protective nature over her, nearing fondness.
This movie wasn't so much scary as it was creepy and intense. Ted Levine as the flamboyant killer Buffalo Bill is an especially ghastly character. I won't give it all away, but he likes little white dogs and saying "It puts the lotion on its skin" a lot. The most memorable character, although he has actual very little screen time, is Hannibal Lector by a milestone. While some critics may point to director Jonathan Demme's earlier works as his best, he certainly didn't harm Foster or Hopkins in their paths to stardom. Now that's a movie where everybody can save face.
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