Friday 24 February 2012

1408
(2007)

RATING:60%
FORMAT:DVD



Reasonable horror movie spoiled by weak characterization and rather tired special effects.

This movie concerns itself with the classic writer’s problem of being trapped inside his own head and not knowing how to escape the resulting solipsism. To make this work cinematically, the film alternates between first- and second-person narratives, but without being a telling evocation of either viewpoint.

The unresolved-grief basis to the story is not as well explored as it could have been, so we are left with the experience of entering a Room 101 - where our worst fears are exposed - but without the necessary catharsis. Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining was somewhat better than this, as was The Exorcist, regarding the loss-of-faith-in-God theme.


Copyright © 2012 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com/) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.
Posted by Frank TALKER™ at 17:08
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Contact Form:

Name

Email *

Message *

Science:



No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.



Jacob Bronowski… (1908 - 74), British scientist, author. Encounter (London, July 1971).


Sleep of Reason:



The dream of reason produces monsters. Imagination deserted by reason creates impossible, useless thoughts. United with reason, imagination is the mother of all art and the source of all its beauty.



Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes… (1746-1828), Spanish painter. Caption to Caprichos, number 43, a series of eighty etchings completed in 1798, satirical and grotesque in form.


Humans & Aliens:



I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.



Terence… (circa 190-159 BC), Roman dramatist. Chremes, in The Self-Tormentor [Heauton Timorumenos], act 1, scene 1.


Führerprinzip:



One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves… There is no organ of conciliation or mediation interposed between the leader and the people, nothing in fact but the apparatus - in other words, the party - which is the emanation of the leader and the tool of his will to oppress. In this way the first and sole principle of this degraded form of mysticism is born, the Führerprinzip, which restores idolatry and a debased deity to the world of nihilism.



Albert Camus… (1913-60), French-Algerian writer & philosopher. The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt: New York: Vintage Books, (1984; page 182.)