I know another work by this filmmaker "Mermaids Singing." It was frustrating. It always is when someone has clever ideas and employs them to convey some profoundly banal "message." Lynch avoids this by "going deep," investing in the voyage. You can steep in the method, and live in the temporary world, and if the god behind it is a simple mind, well, we've tolerated that before.
This is better to my mind, because the message is submerged and the trip is as wonderfully abstract as the earlier. Its more distinctly aware as a work, too.
The story is of two people: a man who seems to be damaged or twisted in some way. Think "Oscar and Lucinda."
Its his reclusive mind we enter, seeing things in unnoticed, simple ways. He falls in love with an older woman. She's similarly extreme in her reclusiveness, and a gifted songwriter/singer. In fact, she is world famous, but another woman acts in her place.
What happens when one mad soul falls in love with another? What happens when both madnesses are based on withdrawal and simplification of the world to a few acknowledged strokes. What happens when someone from the outside enters that shared space for amusement, as we do?
There's an on screen character who represents our intrusion. Initially, the way she is introduced, we believe she will be the quirky source of liberated wisdom that will provide our light. And so we accept her. But that role turns dark toward the end, and we are tricked into being embarrassed for ourselves.
Its not particularly powerful or deep. But it is well enough imagined. Things like this rarely do work, because the payoff is a confrontation that closes the door. "Exotica" is the rare exception.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.
This is better to my mind, because the message is submerged and the trip is as wonderfully abstract as the earlier. Its more distinctly aware as a work, too.
The story is of two people: a man who seems to be damaged or twisted in some way. Think "Oscar and Lucinda."
Its his reclusive mind we enter, seeing things in unnoticed, simple ways. He falls in love with an older woman. She's similarly extreme in her reclusiveness, and a gifted songwriter/singer. In fact, she is world famous, but another woman acts in her place.
What happens when one mad soul falls in love with another? What happens when both madnesses are based on withdrawal and simplification of the world to a few acknowledged strokes. What happens when someone from the outside enters that shared space for amusement, as we do?
There's an on screen character who represents our intrusion. Initially, the way she is introduced, we believe she will be the quirky source of liberated wisdom that will provide our light. And so we accept her. But that role turns dark toward the end, and we are tricked into being embarrassed for ourselves.
Its not particularly powerful or deep. But it is well enough imagined. Things like this rarely do work, because the payoff is a confrontation that closes the door. "Exotica" is the rare exception.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.