Fucked-up Shit #1: DON'T LOOK NOW

Man, have I got a love jones for Julie Christie. She's not my typical fare as women go, a little malnourished, a bit Paris-Hilton-esque in the body department (I'm more of a Jane Russell-Jayne Mansfield guy), but those eyes, those lips, those legs, and my Achilles' heel - that accent. Jesus, I can hear her right now, and I'm sweating. Christie, besides being one of God's most beautiful creations, is also one of the best actresses ever. She came up with Brit New-Wave director John Schlesinger in films like DARLING, BILLY LIAR, and FAR FROM THE MADDENING CROWD before becoming a worldwide star and moving on to larger fare like DR. ZHVAGO, and her collaborations with Warren Beatty (not the boinking they did together, but the movies) MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER (one of my essentials), HEAVEN CAN WAIT, and SHAMPOO. She's the type of actress that upon first glance appears fragile in her willowy beauty, but once she opens her mouth, you know who's in charge...

DON'T LOOK NOW begins with a horrible tragedy: Sutherland and Christie live in an idyllic manor on the English countryside with their young son and daughter. The little girl drowns, and the parents abandon the manor for the canals of Venice in order to try and forget this horrible event, with Sutherland's character taking a job restoring the interior of an old Cathedral. While there, they meet a pair of old British spinster sisters, one a blind seer who claims that she knows of the little girl and her terrible fate, and that her spirit is amongst them. This both upsets and intrigues Christie's character, eventually leading to a rather unsettling séance, perhaps detailing the little girl's anguish at the time of her death, or something more sinister and foreboding. Along the way, there is a serial killer loose along the canals, and Sutherland's character keeps having glimpses of what appears to be his dead daughter scurrying along the walkways, and ducking into the corridors. All of this culminates into an ending that, as mentioned above, pulls the entire ground from underneath your feet, sending your sanity tumbling down into a pit of nightmares. I'm not kidding. You will have nightmares, that is if you can muster up the will to sleep.

Based on a short story by the legendary Daphne DuMaurier, DON'T LOOK NOW is a minor-classic amongst horror fans, and cineastes for two reasons: Horror fans will cite it's ending as one of the greatest shocks ever , and cineastes will point out the supposedly unsimulated sex romp between Christie and co-star Donald Sutherland, that has become an oft-debated cinematic "urban legend" on par with that ghost in the background of THREE MEN AND A BABY. DON'T LOOK NOW may come off as a bit dated, but it is rich in atmosphere, and an ever-present feeling of dread, propelling it to a conclusion that borders on a criminal act of psychological torture. It's a reminder that the best, most effective horror is conveyed through character, story, and atmospherics, rather than cheap jolts, torture, and buckets of blood. Director Nicolas Roeg is a filmmaker who uses a lot of intrusive zooms, close-ups, and handheld, coupled with a very disorienting editing style. Me personally, I love the guy, and would recommend other works such as THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH, PERFORMANCE (co-directed with Donald Cammell),BAD TIMING, and TRACK 29 (featuring the second-greatest Gary Oldman performance ever - next to SID AND NANCY).

DON’T LOOK NOW: some seriously mean, dementedly fucked-up shit.


DON’T LOOK NOW - dir. Nicholas Roeg - screenplay by Allan Scott and Chris Bryant, based on a story by Daphne DuMaurier - starring - Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland - 1973 - Paramount Pictures