"And as I ran along the shore, crushing sleeping flowers with heedless feet and maddened ever by the fear of unknown things and the lure of the dead faces, I saw that the garden had no end under that moon; for where by day the walls were, there stretched now only new vistas of trees and paths, flowers and shrubs, stone idols and pagodas, and bendings of the yellow-litten stream past grassy banks and under grotesque bridges of marble." The picture he paints sounds like a dream, or a creepy vaguely romantic nightmare. The ending was less so, which where the "horror" element came in I suppose. I looked at a couple of his other works, but this one was definitely my favorite. I did like the line in " The Unnamable," referring to the trees as "patriarchal." Not entirely sure what that means, but its a funny concept.
I also watched "Delicatessen" by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. I'm a massive fan of his other work, I'd probably site him in my top 3 directors (along with Guillermo del Toro and Wes Anderson.) Whimsical horror, (which is how I'd describe this creepy cannibalistic hotel flick) is something I can get kinda behind. Post-Apocalyptic France sounds like one of the most fun settings for a film, if I had to survive the apocalypse anywhere I'd probably pick someplace similar. I'd cross my fingers for less flesh-eating, though. I grew really attached to the main characters, despite the comically dark setting, they were both very sweet and likable. They also weren't "traditional Hollywood couple" which was refreshing, they both had so much more character, appeal, and likeability. It was also kind of "Horror Romance," which is what pulled me in more.
Five Stars!
A cannibalistic, post apocalyptic France definitely sounds like something extremely interesting to watch, so I'll definitely have to give Delicatessen a peak! A really good mini-review by you that doesn't give away too much of the movie, which is awesome!
ReplyDelete"Patriarchal" trees really is an interesting word choice. It almost seems like some sort of advocation for deforestation. To truly dismantle the patriarchy we have to get rid of all these trees, which is sad to think about when taken literally, but metaphorically the patriarchy is like trees: overbearing, there hundreds of thousands of years, hard to cut down. I haven't read the story, but it makes me wonder if this was a feminist or an anti-feminist metaphor. Because on the other-hand, if we get rid of all the trees, we lose oxygen and animal homes and beauty.
ReplyDeleteHahaha! Oh man, somewhere out there is a timeline where H.P. Lovecraft is a massive feminist :')
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