D'Angelo misses the point big time on this one.  Falling in line with much of film criticism, he seems to inordinately value "daring" productions and miss the impressively subtle strokes of films like this. 
 
From our blog:

Well said, my friend!

I appreciate this piece greatly, despite (and largely because of) the fact that it is rather stream-of-consciousness.  I think that if anyone has been with anyone for long enough, the nature of conversation simply changes - instead of talking about ourselves, we talk about what we do and think about new events.  This…

It is delightful.  We found it at a local public library when we first watched it, if that helps.

Night of the Hunter and Pather Panchali also came out in 1955, so perhaps not so slow.