Killer of Sheep 4K 1978 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

Observations on the life of African Americans in the urban ghetto on behalf of a quiet, inconspicuous man, Stan, who works in a slaughterhouse to feed his family. He is a hardworking and honest man, but his inability to reconcile with the world around him pushes him to the edge of the abyss...

Review 4K Movie

Good thing I was persistent and didn't give up watching the American independent movie 'Killer of Sheep' just because the sound and picture didn't match. I found another version where everything was technically fine. And during the second attempt to watch this recognized film, which has, one could say, cult status, I realized how important and essential to the atmosphere of this tape, which is decided precisely on the smallest details, nuances, casual exchanges, sounds coming from somewhere, seemingly extraneous noises, is the whole instantly grasped on the screen and not rehearsed reality, where any discrepancy would cut the ear, spoil the view.

In general, it seems that the life of small and adult inhabitants of the Negro neighborhood in Los Angeles is watched by a hidden camera. And writer-director-operator-editor-editor-producer Charles Burnett, who during the period of filming in the first half of the 70's was a student of the film department of the University of Southern California, just watched what happened by itself, ostensibly without his participation. But that's the art of the finest directing and camerawork, if we tend not to even notice any efforts of the creators of the picture to organize the screen space and control the performers in the right way.

One can hardly guess that 'Killer of Sheep', shot for the laughable sum of $5k, was made intermittently for several years, and then Burnett ran into copyright problems with regard to the musical compositions he generously used in the soundtrack. But without this, the film would still be different, nor would it probably have the virtues of seeming improvisation, of spontaneous and randomly captured reality, if the narrative composition had been more carefully and thoughtfully constructed, if it had not looked loose and unformed.

The charm of this film is precisely in such plotlessness, mosaicism, fragmentation and incompleteness. What is going on? Just life! And it is quite difficult to get in tune with it, to play in unison!