i’m just going to talk about these 30-ish seconds when Ilya sees Miles at the bar because it (the cinematography/editing) is Doing Something To My Brain
this is just one of those scenes that scratches and itch and here’s why. i want you to watch this again, and i want you to notice:
the music is diegetic: it’s what’s playing in the club and the characters can hear it
Miles spots Ilya and glances him up and down almost in disbelief (it is the Most Subtle glance both in the wide and close shot on Miles)
Miles’s salute is IN TIME WITH THE MUSIC
his smile increases AS the music swells. and his arm hits the bar on beat
the slow transition of undampening the music in the build-up is done pERFECTLY. the song is still playing in the club; it’s still technically diegetic. but now, we’re listening to it — Ilya isn’t.
Ilya was rocking a bit and that stops as soon as he sees Miles. Ilya moves his head a tiny fraction just as the beat drops, as he realises that that must mean rose and shane are also here
Ilya’s face doesn’t change as the beat drops, telling the viewer that something has changed internally
he begins to turn his head but then the frame changes to the back of his head as he slowly turns around — and the camera goes in the OPPOSITE direction
his eyes SLOWLY scan the room, contrasting the fast pace and high tempo of the song/club context.
he overshoots, then looks almost perfectly forward (probably some incidental symbolism about shane being right in front of him the whole time)
IN TIME WITH THE MUSIC, we switch to a slow zoom seeing shane and rose from across the room
rose is a bit obscured, but shane isn't. THAT'S who ilya's really looking at
as the camera slowly pulls away, Ilya takes this big deep inhale that is ALSO IN TIME WITH THE MUSIC (2 beats in 2 beats out, TURN ON THE BEAT)
