I liked the first third of Morvern Callar better than most movies I've seen. The camera plays good games with focus and planes of light. The morality is odd, if not amibiguous, and the storyline strikes an unusual balance between horrific and tender.
BIG TIME SPOILERS BELOW:
She leaves her boyfriend's corpse (a suicide) lying in the apartment for days and doesn't tell anybody that he's dead. Next to the body is a blinking christmas tree that emits a loud, low electrical buzz. The lights are cozy and warm looking, while at the same time flashing like some kind of code-red alarm indicator.
She goes to a debauched Scottish party with her friends and dances, smokes, gets fucked up, gets laid. She goes to her flourescent-lit job at the supermarket. Everytime she comes home the body is stil there and the cozy tree lights are still blinking on and off.
She puts her own name on her dead boyfriend's novel and sends it in to the publisher.
Eventually she strips down to her underwear and chops up the body in the bathtub. Somehow this scene is neither camp nor horror.
She hikes up into the mountains with the body in a back pack and buries him. Then she goes off to Spain on the dead guy's funeral money.
That was enough story for me. The film goes on and it's pretty good but the remarkable strange edginess of the beginning fades away into a more familiar type of tale. Still I recommend it a lot - and the mannered, playful camera is really great all the way through.
sounds great. definitely curious and will have to see it now
unless you want to say more
I saw the Luaghing Policeman on T.V. last night. Set in San Francisco, i t's actually a pretty good translation of the book (Martin Beck series, go read them now if you like mysteries). Very very 1972. Larson (they kept his last name but not his fist) is wonderfully moustache clad and acted.
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I liked the first third of Morvern Callar better than most movies I've seen. The camera plays good games with focus and planes of light. The morality is odd, if not amibiguous, and the storyline strikes an unusual balance between horrific and tender.
BIG TIME SPOILERS BELOW:
That was enough story for me. The film goes on and it's pretty good but the remarkable strange edginess of the beginning fades away into a more familiar type of tale. Still I recommend it a lot - and the mannered, playful camera is really great all the way through.
- sally mckay 11-29-2003 8:33 am
sounds great. definitely curious and will have to see it now
unless you want to say more
- nanmac (guest) 11-29-2003 6:36 pm
I saw the Luaghing Policeman on T.V. last night. Set in San Francisco, i t's actually a pretty good translation of the book (Martin Beck series, go read them now if you like mysteries). Very very 1972. Larson (they kept his last name but not his fist) is wonderfully moustache clad and acted.
- Joester (guest) 11-29-2003 6:49 pm