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Reviews
Gebroken spiegels (1984)
provocative and intriguing
I only saw this film once, about ten years ago on SBS television in Australia, and while I can't remember many specific plot details, I can remember the impact it had on me. Its loose narrative describes the day to day life of prostitutes working in a brothel, while every so often exploring the movements of a male serial killer who seems to delight in watching women waste away. Like I said, the specifics are a bit fuzzy in my mind, but I do recall he takes photos of a woman tied to a bed over a long period of time, sticking them on a wall, forming a document of her disintegration. It sounds like another film that treats the torture of women as entertainment, but it's far from it. "Species 2" is a far more offensive piece of work (and obviously left such a bad taste in my mouth that I've recalled it here!). Gorris is clearly an intelligent film maker who is not afraid to tackle problematic ideas and concepts, and both this film and her earlier work "A Question of Silence" are essential viewing as examples of feminist cinema - as well as being provocative and intriguing works, regardless of labels.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Lost
The so-called genius of Stanley Kubrick is totally lost on me. I'm pretty sure I'm in minority in my opinion (and it IS only an opinion), but I find his films almost unwatchable. Technically brilliant but cold, unengaging and tightly sealed. Suffocating. I'm sure anyone who took over 12 months to make a film could come up with something passable, and "Eyes Wide Shut" is barely passable. Would we be talking about this film if it was directed by anyone else? Is it merely the high-budget high-brow version of a direct to video thriller? "Bedroom Eyes VII: The Masquerade" perhaps? The sexuality on display is stunningly unerotic, the music score heavy-handed (and caused ripples of laughter amongst the audience when I saw the film), the acting highly variable. Tom Cruise tries too hard as usual, and once again fails to come across as a believable character. Nicole Kidman's scenes at the party that opens the film are frankly awful, but for the remainder of the movie she is remarkable. The climactic orgy features some great Venetian masks but is mind-bogglingly heavy handed in execution... I've tried to justify the turgidness of the experience, thinking it actually tells the story of a man with no sexual imagination. Hence his visions of his wife sleeping with another man are flat and clichéd, his responses to sexual situations are muted and almost coy. But even if that were the case, it doesn't make for an interesting cinematic experience. There's no passion on evidence in this picture, no animal lusts and desires and urges. It's too calculated - nothing is 'felt'. And as a result, "Eyes Wide Shut" sags and deflates under the weight of pretension.
Clockwatchers (1997)
Quietly funny and strangely haunting
For some reason I'd been resisting seeing this film until a friend thrust it into my hands and said, "C'mon, Toni Collette and Parker Posey, how can you go wrong?"
Maybe I was resisting because I didn't want to see my life up there on the screen. Currently working in a temp job (where I am typing this review), "Clockwatchers" is terrifyingly familiar. It's not a hilarious comedy, although it is quite funny. Certain moments threaten to veer into David Lynch-style self-conscious surrealism, but the director reigns these moments in, in the nick of time.
It's a film about small things happening in an enclosed space, and the friendships that grow between the most unlikely of people, due mostly to proximity. The mood of paranoia that emerges in the second half of the film is perfect - turning trivialities into monumental acts of anarchy and betrayal. The office becomes a sealed microcosm where the theft of a tiny plastic monkey becomes the end of the world.
Not everyone is going to understand this film - it's not "Office Space", which is more accessibly 'wacky'. You're not going to chuck it on with your mates and have a good laugh. It's much more sombre and serious and ultimately quite sad. And it's made me quit my job (so perhaps I should have given it 10 stars, just for that).