Don't Look Now

Nicholas Roeg's 1973 film Don't Look Now gives off a strong sensation of the eerie and the non-accidental; the story itself has its hiccups and inexplicable aspects, but it works, if only for the gloomy atmosphere of crumbling cathedrals, an ill-lit and murder-ridden Venice, and that bright red coat. Donald Sutherland is so under-appreciated - what an odd looking, fantastic guy. I found Julie Christie a bit grating at times, but I suppose that was at least partially intended. And I have to say, there's something so embarrassingly terrifying about a blind woman's cataract-eyes and an aging dwarf. Damn you, Nicholas Roeg. 

The form of the plot and its apparent priorities remind me of various of David Lynch's films, particularly Lost Highway, another film that appears to be about murder and terror, but is at heart the narrative of predicting one's own death as it approaches. David Eggars has a fascinating essay on the film, connecting it to Saul Bellow's early-twentieth-century story, "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," frightening and misleading in its own way. One could almost draw a timeline from the story, to Roeg, to Lynch, in delineating a sort of history of the meeting of the prognostication of death with the realization of its personal meaning and the actual death itself. This may give much away about the film. But I promise it doesn't "ruin" it. I have to mention how beautiful the cinematography, setting, etc. all are - the film is visually stunning.