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10/10
The barbarity of totalitarianism as seen through a boy's nightmares.
2 July 2005
A wife's betrayal of her husband, leads to a son's nightmares about his father's disappearance, torture and murder at the hands of a totalitarian state.

His visions are made literal with brutal, grotesquely eschatological and scatological imagery.

Do not expect linear narrative; the feverish imaginings of the boy are the plot, much like paging though Goya's "The Disasters of War", and "Caprichos", or a long leisurely look at one of Bosch's more apocalyptic paintings, to which there are visual allusions in the film, the narrative is driven by episodes of ever- increasing malaise, which give it its power.

A special treat, and little masterpiece of horror all unto itself, are the beginning credits, with a haunting song sung by children over monstrous, but beautiful, drawings by Roland Topor.

Invite the whole family over for a screening; you'll forever after feel like a functional family unit.
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A Chilling Pleasure
5 July 2004
Just saw TIME OF THE WOLF in New York City, and it is a complete pleasure. A very subtle film about individual and mass psychology after an unnamed cataclysm.

Also a cautionary tale about having plenty of fresh batteries, lighters, and a good knife, or knives, on hand (you never know when you're going to have to skin your own dinner; hey, call me extreme when that unnamed cataclysm comes around).

An added bonus: no digital effects (although I think they got lucky with fog one day, and made a beautiful scene with it), no manic editing as a substitute for storytelling, no facile heroics, no predictable deus ex machina...it will cleanse the visual palette. It stars Isabelle Huppert, but she is so naturalistic you forget she's Isabelle Huppert.

For an altogether different, but equally pleasurable, although more theatrical, yet completely underrated take on the unnamed cataclysm bit, see

A BOY AND HIS DOG. A dream of a movie.
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