Sunrise
Director: F.W. Murnau
Year Released: 1927
Rating: 3.5
One of the most highly regarded of the silents and one of Murnau's finest achievements, this documents the decline and resurgence of a marriage in a somewhat unpredictable manner - I fully expected the male lead to off his wife in the boat, but he does not, and their second honeymoon ensues. For a movie - and filmmaker - of such seriousness (that is, if we're to take Malkovich's performance as Murnau in Shadow of the Vampire as semi-real), there are plenty of light moments in this (the carnival, the woman with the dress whose straps have a will of their own), with the middle section being one of romantic dreaminess. Near the end, however, it skids dangerously close to being a movie about cheap irony - the storm-at-sea had me fearing for the very worst - but it manages to pull itself out for a beautiful and affecting climax.
