the moody blues

I just watched the credits roll on Jean-Pierre Melville's "Army of Shadows", to which my eyes are still absorbing like a dry sponge in desperate need for moisture. It's an compromising look at a group of morally complex anti-heroes that appears to have been washed in varying shades of blues and greens, but reduced of its brilliance. This is a world of people who hide in between allies, corners, corridors, and various other discreet haunts. The color palette is pallid and drained to the core. Shadows mask the gang of Resistance leaders who try to act as charitable apparitions, but in the end their environment is as dark and clouded as when we met them at the beginning.

Take notice of the hardened beauty that cinematographer Pierre Lhomme creates in "Army of Shadows":

This is a film that's also informed by its textures. The heavy knit winter coats, Simone Signoret's cinnamon-tinged thicket of hair, and the sand encrusted dilapidated walls of a prison cell culminate in a cinematic feast for the senses. It's an exquisitely shot film that really pops with the new transfer thanks to genius minds at the Criterion Collection.

See it.

photos courtesy of dvdbeaver and the british film institute