I realize now, after years of film watching, that it is a flawless film. Nothing in this film is unnecessary. The script flows and sounds organic, as if these fully actualized characters were really speaking them. The camerawork is subtle, but interesting. The story is engaging. It's horrifying, but also, at times, hilarious and playful. It's well-cast...especially that under-appreciated Ted Levine as Jame Gumb. I am shocked that he never received any kind of critical praise or awards.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that The Silence of the Lambs is among the best American movies to come out of the 1990s...and one could make an argument that it is the best. I know...you're wondering how this could be better than Schindler's List. Well...as fantastic, innovative and important as Schindler's List is, The Silence of the Lambs never falters, especially not in the fantastic third act...unlike Schindler's List, which kind of buckles under the heavy onus of telling a Holocaust story without crossing the line between melodrama and drama. It's still a great movie, but it's not perfect. Not as perfect as The Silence of the Lambs.
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