George Washington
d. David Gordon Green, 2000
It would be hard to deny that this is one of the most beautifully photographed films of recent years. The widescreen cinematography, by Tim Orr, is great in the sense that it knows how to use that space to make some really memorable shots. The photography plays a particularly important part in George Washington since the film doesn't really rely on story so much.
Instead, the film is an exercise at evoking a mood. The mood is bookmarked by the narration of a 12-year old girl who seems to be looking back at the events of a particular summer, and a feeling of both regret and strong memory are present throughout. The film is essentially about the few years before adolescence really kicks in. Most of the characters in the film, all played fantastically, are between the ages of 12 and 13. The few adults in the movie don't really play a key role, and most of the scenes dealing with them revolve around wasting time with the kids, since neither have anything better to do.
Washington takes place in an old industrial landscape in North Carolina. The setting merely serves as the backdrop for a lot of scenes that, although may not form a strong narrative, are cohesive in that the focus never seems to drastically change.
There is more to the film than just kids killing time in an old town, but the "tragedies" come so unexpectedly to the kids (and the audience) that it's no use writing about them. However, the movie isn't really about these events either, they provide (to the kids) the first realization that tragedies can happen. As mentioned above, George Washington is as an exercise at evoking mood, and a damn good one at that.
