#334: Don't Look Now

Directed by: NICOLAS ROEG
1973, TSDPT Rank #147

Nicolas Roeg is a director of pseudo-art films with a strange and pretty inaccessible style. Don't Look Now is probably the most popular of all his films because ... well, let's be honest: It's for the graphic and extended sex scene between Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie. This scene is justifiably famous because it is in keeping with Roeg's reputation for expanding the boundaries of film sexuality (which it definitely did) and created a great controversy at the time. I know this must be the reason this film is as popular as it is, because as a horror film, as good as it, it is very unconventional and deceptive with its tactics. A lot of conventional shock tactics are used, but usually nothing shocking is shown, it is the subtle, growing sense of fear and paranoia that is brought out with Roeg's signature choppy, asymmetrical, and cyclical editing that make the film gripping and viable when there is not really all that much going on. The ending of the film is much talked about, and people usually try to find some significance in that scene itself - but I say it means nothing and is not meant to. That, in itself, might be disturbing, but the film really does come together if you think afterward about how much is actually tied up with the loose ends presented to the viewer in the ending. Trust me, this is a film with much more to it than meets the eye, and the key to that something more is in your mind. One of a kind film that is a gem to a horror lover like myself, although I still ponder the bizarre karmic logic of moving to Venice after your child drowns....

(Rating: 8/10)