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Trashin' Cinema - The Movie Rant:
"When there's no more room in hell..."
...Disney will rule the Earth! This is the place to go to hear the God's honest truth about what is f@cked up with the world of film today. Sometimes we may just attack a certain film or director, sometimes a genre or trend, or other times it may just be random thoughts. One thing is guaranteed and that is only the truth is spoken here and we take the kid gloves off permanently. Think of this as "Fight Club" for the cinematic set with the only difference being that we don't stop the beating until WE feel the fight is over. So read on...if you've got the brass cajones to do so!(NOTE: These articles are solely meant as comedic commentary and are not meant to be taken seriously.)
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"B*tch of the Week" : The Best Movie Ever Made
All that we have seen or see is but a dream within a dream.
- Edgar Allan Poe
The ultimate praise I can bestow upon a film is that it truly feels like a dream. When you cannot differentiate your hazed reality from the film, then you know that what you have seen is indeed a unique experience. When it seems as if the events in the film did really happen and that, while you were not a part of them first-hand, you are aware of the transpired events; that is a genuinely haunting feeling. Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977) does that to me as does Darren Arranofsky’s Requiem for a Dream (2000). I wouldn’t call these films dream-like, though. Rather, because of their horrifying qualities and shocking images, I’d call them nightmares. The film that holds its dream-like rapture over me the most is Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958). While volumes have been written about it by numerous outside sources, its tendency to hold this power over viewers is often overlooked and requires further explanation to truly experience it.
John Scottie Ferguson (Jimmy Stewart) is a former police officer whose agoraphobia has cost him his job. He spends his days drinking and being consoled by his ex-fiancée Midge Wood (Barbara Bel Geddes). Former college chum Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) hires Scottie to watch his wife who has been acting peculiar lately. Elster’s wife Madeline (Kim Novak) is a platinum blonde beauty who Scottie gradually falls in love with and (to a certain degree) obsessed. Madeline spends most of her time brooding over a painting in an art gallery of a woman who died over one hundred years ago. Eventually, Scottie confronts Madeline (by saving her life), and they seemingly fall in love. Madeline believes herself a reincarnation of the woman in the painting and feels that she will suffer a similar tragic end. While trying to convince her that she is not the reincarnated woman, Madeline commits suicide by throwing herself off of a bell tower at a Spanish mission. Scottie is beside himself with guilt and lapses into a catatonic state where he replays the events in his mind’s eye. Eventually emerging from this state, Scottie wanders around San Francisco aimlessly hoping to find information about his departed paramour. He sees a young woman who is a virtual double of Madeline except that she is a brunette and styles herself differently. Scottie trails her home and discovers that Judy Barton (Novak) is a local secretary who just moved to town. While trying to deal with the ghostly reminder of his lost love in Judy, Scottie also realizes that something just doesn’t add up. He buys Judy a suit just like the one Madeline wore. Has her walk, act like, and dye her hair just like Madeline until he knows for sure what he intended to find out through recreation of the past.
Vertigo is probably the best film ever made. Rarely does such a haunting story play so well on our emotions that it makes us question our own relationships with the people around us. If we knew what Scottie knows at the climax of the film, how would we react? Do we choose to love who we do for who they or who we want them to be? Did Scottie truly love Judy or was it the memory of Madeline that made him feel what he did? Is Scottie’s hopeless, tragic love for Madeline the reason for his will over Judy or is it a twisted obsession? Was it ever Madeline, or was it Judy the whole time (an ongoing debate)? Sympathies certainly go out for Scottie and his feelings, but what about Judy’s feelings? Was she ever herself or was she always a stand-in for another woman? How can she love someone like Scottie when she is unsure why he loves her?
Vertigo certainly raises more questions than it answers and some ideas are often passed by in lieu of the more mysterious elements. What about the morality of it all? Is Scottie being punished for some unseen misdeeds? Or, is it for his inability to save the life of the police officer that saved his? Scottie is certainly not an innocent, but for someone so surrounded by tragedy, it makes you wonder what he did to deserve all of this. If the Madeline he knew was never Madeline at all, than what he lost in Judy was the only woman he ever loved. But, if he fell in love with Madeline and Judy wasn’t Madeline until the day at the mission, than the loss of Judy is less important…or is it? Either way, Scottie’s agoraphobia is the least of his problems. Unfortunately, Scottie doesn’t realize this until it is too late.
Hitchcock’s masterstrokes are all over this film like an artist’s canvas. The gorgeous set design, the Edith Head designed costumes, Bernard Hermann’s most enigmatic score, and the cinematography which uses a slightly soft lens to give the film it’s ethereal quality. While clarity is certainly desired in a film transfer, the use of a soft lens can have a magnificent effect on the emotional impact of a particular scene. Jimmy Stewart gives a truly inspiring performance as Scottie. While he will forever be associated with his role as George Bailey, here he represents the dark side of what love and loss can do to a man. I never in my mind thought that he could give such a dark performance, but here it is, in all of its twisted glory. The real scene-stealer is Kim Novak. She is icily perfect as the detached Madeline and warmly romantic as the earthy Judy. It’s been well reported that her and Hitch did not see eye-to-eye at all on the set of the film, but he couldn’t have been unimpressed with her performance(s). She makes the viewer fall in love with her as much as Scottie does in the film. While her and Stewart would later re-team for the memorable Bell, Book, and Candle (1960), the chemistry they share here can never be duplicated. As the other woman in this bizarre love triangle (or is it a square?), Barbara Bel Geddes is the perfect woman to bring home to mother. She supports Scottie and loves him openly despite his tragic attempts at loving Madeline. More than simply a stand-by lover, she is the anchor that grounds Scottie when he needs it most. It’s always been said that love is blind, but in this case, love makes Scottie blind to the love that is around him in the form of Midge.
As I stated before, volumes have been written about this film and, undoubtedly, more will follow. Vertigo is that rare, sterling example of a film deserving of that much thought and research by so many different people. It’s not for all tastes, but for those with an open mind and a heavy heart. It has been imitated in one form or another (particularly by Brian De Palma), but can never be duplicated for the emotion that it conveys. It’s a true original in every sense of the word and as unique as a dream that anyone has on a given night. Who wouldn’t want to see this dream come true?
Available on DVD from Universal Pictures Home Video.
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Reason #2 "Why Movies are Better than Sex"
Hookers are great stand-ins for vacationing parents. |
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Character of the Week
Think about it: if you lost your short-term memory every 15 minutes, you'd have an excuse for everything! Like "Honest, honey, I didn't know she was your sister!" Or "I must have been drugged and dragged in to that strip club." Or the ever popular "Really? You mean I work here?" Guy Pearce's turn as Leonard Shelby in "Memento" is a classic in the making. Until "Saturday Night Live" parodies it. Then it's as dead as his wife...
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Role Model of the Week:
Got to give it to Jennifer Connely's "Marion" in "Requiem for a Dream". She's so hard up for a fix that she does an "ass to ass" lesbo act with another chick with nothing between them but a 3 foot long 6 inch around dildo. Without a doubt, a role model for all junkie chicks.
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