Both are considered among the greatest films ever, both see the City as a dark place which can corrupt the soul, both are love stories about a couple who separate and they're both pretty amazing, which one do you like more?
I'll go with "Sunrise", but "L'Atalante" is still sensational. Both amazing films.
J Dilla Changed My Life. Rest In Beats.
I disagree about your analysis that the city is a dark place which can corrupt the soul in 'Sunrise'. In fact, I think the opposite is true in that film.
shareI definitely see the similarity between these two movies. They both have this indescribable air of wonder and aching love. Their both mostly silent and their cinematography has a haunting beauty to it.
Personally, I go with Sunrise all the way, but I need to see L'Atalante again. Sunrise is pure and perfect. I really can't find a thing wrong with it.
I'd go with L'Atalante - definitely. I think the acting for one is better in it. As fantastic as Janet Gaynor is in Sunrise, I thought George O'Brien totally overdid it - all that hunched over "evil" acting was distinctly comic; and I understand the acting style of the age and what was expected and what worked for the audiences of the 20s, but for my tastes it has dated the film considerably. Also the way the plot is constructed is pretty silly as well - the actions and behaviour of the husband and wife are psychologically unconvincing. Again, I understand how that wouldn't be a big issue for the contemporary audience of the film quite used to stage melodrama and films that didn't depend on realism - but L'Atalante feels realer, funnier, and sadder without resorting to extremes of melodrama. I also preferred the visual poetry in Vigo's film. Sunrise is a classic and an important film in cinema, no doubt, but I personally think L'Atlante is a masterpiece, and had Vigo lived he would have proved one of the greatest of all early directors given the quality of his first and only feature.
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