| RATING: | 40% |
| FORMAT: | DVD |
Interesting attempt to inject genuine human emotion and warmth into the serial killer
The leading lady lacks a star personality and the convoluted plotting suggests a lack of thematic conviction on the part of the
The plus side is that the film is atmospheric and suspenseful with its clichés, despite a melodramatic tendency to
Although stylish and well filmed, it really does not make much sense in its
Peculiar film about the
As a thriller, the plot is somewhat improbable; leaving us to conclude it is something of an allegory of how Whites
Here, everyone is more concerned with how they appear to others rather than how they actually are to themselves. A successful marriage becomes defined by how successful one is at convincing neighbors that it is successful in appearance, rather than in essence. The issue then becomes not sharing your life with another, but
It is no coincidence that Whites have the highest divorce rates of any ethnic group in the world. The insular nature of White culture leads Whites to tolerate their lackluster marriages and become
The great unanswered question, about whether you can ever really know the mind of anyone else within the ostensible intimacy of a marriage, is never
Rosamund PIKE is excellent throughout and offers the psychological ambiguity the story needs. We never really get to know if she is the bad girl needing punishment by punishing her husband or just a vehicle for the author’s disdain for the kind of phony marriage on show here.
Based on a White male feminist’s (inevitably-confused) understanding of sexual equality, this characterless, idea-based tale contains the same ambiguity regarding biological essentialism as it does of how White women are actually viewed by White men.
As a grotesque satire on the way in which White girls are actually raised, it only partially succeeds because of its equivocal attitude toward feminism - along with the voyeuristic nature of the enterprise. This scopophilia perfectly captures the sense that White women are to be most concerned with how they appear (to White men) and that their essential purpose is White male sexual pleasure and, in the process, breeding ever more Caucasians - as if there were a shortage of same or, worse, a declining White birthrate.
Despite its visual beauty, this film ultimately falls flat on its face in presenting White feminism as largely pointless in the face of White male lust, along with the latter’s need to achieve secure power over White women in order to experience some sense of sexual stability - no matter how false. This is because White feminists never suggest sleeping with men of different ethnic groups as a solution to White male chauvinism since they secretly delight in the sexism they experience: It gives them a chance to vent their hatred of all men and of one man, in particular - their fathers. The high, inescapable walls, here, are in the director’s paranoiac and schizophrenic mind.
This film has two basic problems it can never overcome:
Rather good, existential piece about two close friends lost in the desert. This severely tests their friendship to the point of complete physical and moral exhaustion.
The pair soon despairs of ever finding water, food and the civilization they thought they were only temporarily leaving behind in their hike from the stresses of modern life. They do not understand the natural world; having only seen it on tv and, once out of their car, quickly lose their way.
Shot in master takes, the film slowly builds to its inevitable climax; the improvised dialogue matching the sparseness of the visuals. Largely wordless, this is a hypnotic movie set amid the great natural beauty of the landscape that’s killing them; while communicating the pair’s growing estrangement. A very rewarding experience about friendship, fate and responsibility.
| David Lynch |
 |
| Rebekah DEL RIO | Chad EVERETT | Melissa GEORGE |
 |  |  |
| Lee GRANT | Ann MILLER | Naomi WATTS |
 |  |  |
David Lynch’s 10 Clues to Unlocking This Thriller:
- Pay particular attention in the beginning of the film: At least two clues are revealed before the credits;
- Notice appearances of the red lampshade;
- Can you hear the title of the film that Adam Kesher is auditioning actresses for? Is it mentioned again?
- An accident is a terrible event – notice the location of the accident;
- Who gives a key? And why?
- Notice the robe, the ashtray, the coffee cup;
- What is felt, realized & gathered at the Club Silencio?
- Did talent, alone, help Camilla?
- Note the occurrences surrounding the man behind Winkie’s.
- Where is Aunt Ruth?
Mannered, surreal, often first‑person mystery (sometimes changing who the person is) that actually works.
Initially somnolent, it grows on you to become a hypnotic tale of schizophrenia and failure. What at first seems trite – complete with weirdness for its own sake – becomes a profound exploration of the nature of both cinema and real‑life alienation with the two seen as necessary concomitants.
The ever‑excellent Naomi WATTS plays the ingénue character needed to drive a somewhat absurd plot without forcing the audience to ask why she simply doesn’t call the police from the get‑go.
The film is really too long and the pace a little too sluggish, but it is a subtle satire on the Hollywood version of the White American Dream that stands favorable comparison with illustrious forebears like Sunset Blvd.: Its characters live in a fantasy world of dreams‑of‑escape that finally lead nowhere but an early grave.
| RATING: | 80% |
| FORMAT: | DVD |
Relentlessly first person narrative that can easily confuse viewers since everything we know is told to us by someone who's clearly having some kind of mental breakdown. This tests audience empathy and compassion for his plight to the very limits of endurance, yet works well here as a storytelling technique.
A father claims his daughter's been abducted but this is merely an alcoholic/drug addict fantasy in this incisive and rather disquieting look at a man refusing to face his problems honestly – until the timely arrival of a cute seven year old. She's too young and guileless to know the good affect she's having but, nevertheless, has it all the same.
Superbly acted to the nth degree, this is a showcase for the finest acting and directing talent in a film dedicated to the solid psychological principle: "Get Over It!"
![WEBSITE: Ansatsu [Assassination] (1964)...](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tVRKqwiU1pgxIVkXjjgBIJrItEgMo1p9ssBpxl6JilYD7sWxfAT7X99TD9mqPLuWlxbAznkPpM2xHdcXA_uqhDmsVDOQX2btrxap-z_phSk52MrRjrbvnNeo8I8x3-1h0iWBaL8dTyXSXllqxr32Ca1tnWAvU0S6NN0A=s0-d "Opens in Current Window/Tab…")
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.
(1746-1828), Spanish painter. Caption to Caprichos, number 43, a series of eighty etchings completed in 1798, satirical and grotesque in form.
I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.
(circa 190-159 BC), Roman dramatist. Chremes, in The Self-Tormentor [Heauton Timorumenos], act 1, scene 1.
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.
(1913-60), French-Algerian writer & philosopher. The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt: New York: Vintage Books, (1984; page 182.)