#we could see all of flint’s breakdowns in full lighting and front view

[fellsoleander]

uh oh watching xxi and im so fucking unwell…. NEED to kill the director of this episode because that sequence of flint breaking down in his cabin is SOOOO fucking good. how 3/4 of the scene is shot from behind flint so he’s left in shadow and the only time we see his face it’s only half of it… as if his grief and rage and pain is still something only he can see… and even at the end, when we are so close to seeing his full face, the camera slowly backs away and hides him from view with the table, as if warning us that this view into flint is not for us. we hover so close to the edge— we are right over his shoulder, we see his shaking hands, we see him slump, we hear him sob— but we are not allowed in. the cinematography really reinforces the message that no one, not flint’s crew, not silver, and not even us, the audience, gets to see the shattered man underneath, because that undoes it all. that breaks the illusion of the monster of the high seas. and that’s the last thing they can afford to do now.