tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post6121435200666912586..comments2024-03-12T12:38:23.542-04:00Comments on The Kind of Face You Hate: Don't Say That You Love Mebill r.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-44472543488446317102014-12-21T11:39:21.458-05:002014-12-21T11:39:21.458-05:00I've always thought Smith had plenty of ambiti...I've always thought Smith had plenty of ambition, though not much talent, and I love him for that. The look of CLERKS might be accidental, but it's really distinctive, and if he's more of an aural filmmaker than a visual one, so what? There are far too many directors with pretty pictures and forgettable dialogue, I'm happy to have at least one be the opposite.<br />ZAK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO was the one that really got me interested again. It's got plenty of flaws, but it's the only romantic comedy I've seen in a long time that seemed to be genuinely engaged with how people love, screw, and think about loving and screwing, which makes it a really valuable thing.That Fuzzy Bastardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09586029006083399346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-55383199016347073532014-12-15T22:29:09.648-05:002014-12-15T22:29:09.648-05:00John - Even though I *kind of* liked TUSK, I think...John - Even though I *kind of* liked TUSK, I think I would be slightly mortified if you took my reaction to it as a recommendation. I found something to appreciate about it, but it's a tough movie to like.<br /><br />But what can I say? Smith wanted us to feel sad for the victim in his film, and I appreciated that, and I *did* feel a little sad. It's a rare enough thing that I don't want to dismiss it.<br /><br />As for the rest of it, your THE SHINING comparison is right on. The strength of the supernatural in that film comes in large part from not understanding it, having very little to no context for any of it, apart from shreds of clues here and there. That's why the vagueness of The Babadook doesn't make him nebulous to me, but rather more frightening.bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-7410650655174530492014-12-15T22:24:50.297-05:002014-12-15T22:24:50.297-05:00Steve - I agree that we've become conditioned ...Steve - I agree that we've become conditioned to ask the "Is it real?" question, but I resist it as you do. What that means, at least for me, as a kind of default "yes." Otherwise, I'd be engaging with a question that I find boring.<br /><br />Your contention that the Babadook IS her grief is correct (or anyway I agree with it) but that's the power of this kind of horror story: the supernatural is everything at once, including reality. Which is why I reject the question, because it makes everything less interesting.<br /><br />The fact that the Babadook itself is ill-defined is as it should be. How much should we know about it? Why would we want to know more? As I said in the post, he's the Boogeyman, and what the hell do we know about HIM?bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-64379742642831110562014-12-15T15:01:40.241-05:002014-12-15T15:01:40.241-05:00Didn't have much interest in either title, but...Didn't have much interest in either title, but you've given me some second thoughts here, especially with respect to the Smith movie, which sounded like a total write-off.<br /><br />I particularly liked that line about <i>an emotional tug that one not only doesn't often feel from horror films but which one is almost never asked to feel by horror films.</i> Too, too true. I don't know how well Smith accomplishes that here (and frankly, even given your evident approval, I have my doubts), but horror that genuinely unsettles with something like realistic violence, pain and terror, rather than their slick punchline equivalents, has always been pretty thin on the ground, and is today practically extinct, so any effort in that direction deserves some credit.<br /><br />On the subject of ambiguous treatment of the supernatural, nothing is less interesting to me than the all-or-nothing type of question where we're supposed to wonder whether "it's all in her head" or whatever. The more interesting type of ambiguity is a little more complicated: yes, there IS something there, but we don't know what, exactly, or what it's doing (or why), or what to do about it; and at the same time we might, quite understandably, be losing our minds. In fact, I think Kubrick's The Shining is a pretty damn good example of that sort of thing.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05364322006357208797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-44232509639109613172014-12-15T12:54:23.609-05:002014-12-15T12:54:23.609-05:00I do often think that people have a tendency to pl...I do often think that people have a tendency to play "Spot the Metaphor" in horror film nowadays, and that metaphor is often facile enough, not engrained enough in the fiber of the film to be a worthwhile exploration.<br /><br />I think it's a mistake to ignore this element with "The Babadook", however. The metaphor isn't a peripheral element here. It's hardly subtext. It is basically THE TEXT. If you don't get a handle on the metaphor, then something like the ending might seem like a cop-out or even nonsensical.<br /><br />As much as I like myth-making horror films about creatures (and there's a great one this year with "It Follows"), I don't believe that's what Kent was going for here ultimately. The Babadook exists on the edges of this film and is barely given definition at all. In any instance where there would've been the opportunity to define and explore the creature itself, the weight of the film is shifted every time towards the metaphor. The Babadook IS Amelia's grief. It IS the last words of her husband before she watched his head get cut off. It IS the grief filtered down to Samuel, who is terrified that his mother doesn't love him. It is all of these things that have been soaking in the muck repression for years.<br /><br />To me, it's not even a question of whether it's all in her mind. I don't think the film is trying to suggest that. There would've been opportunities to play into that reading as well, but they are also avoided. The question of "is it supernatural or is it all in her mind" is one of those age-old questions that we are conditioned to ask when a film presents a situation like this. I don't think the answer is either in this case. The thrill of this movie is the balancing act that Kent achieves in submerging you within the atmosphere, and clearly plucking you out by letting the grief metaphor guide/comment upon the action in ways that most horror movies subvert to a greater degree. Her skillfulness definitely allows the film to be enjoyed as a surface-level scary film as well, clearly, but this is a case where embracing the metaphor really helps bring the film together.<br /><br />Kent said in an interview that David Lynch is her favorite filmmaker, and at first I didn't see much Lynch in "The Babadook". But I think her unwillingness to feed these questions of "real or not" within the film is a very Lynchian horror trait. One might ask after "Mulholland Drive", was that real or not? But ultimately that question won't get you anywhere because he's not concerned with answering it in the text.Stevenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-85505331784364936892014-12-14T09:42:24.289-05:002014-12-14T09:42:24.289-05:00I thought the same thing.I thought the same thing.bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-75598375760562129252014-12-14T09:34:35.405-05:002014-12-14T09:34:35.405-05:00Wallace Bryton sounds a lot like Wilips Brighton, ...Wallace Bryton sounds a lot like Wilips Brighton, Bob Odenkirk's Brian Wilson parody on Mr. Show. Fabian W.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-68395429301879781492014-12-13T22:30:45.221-05:002014-12-13T22:30:45.221-05:00I'll have to give you the former children'...I'll have to give you the former children's author thing -- obviously that's there to mess with our heads (I foiled that scheme by not paying attention!) -- but not the stained hands. I'm having that argument over on Facebook, and I believe that was soot from her attempt to burn the book, not chalk or pencil from making it herself. That part of the theory doesn't add up for me at all.<br /><br />As for the rest of it, my feeling is that the supernatural interpretation is almost always more interesting. So we're different!bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-10742225489958702582014-12-13T22:15:50.193-05:002014-12-13T22:15:50.193-05:00Oh well, the author. What the hell does HE know ab...Oh well, the author. What the hell does HE know about what he wrote? (You're right, although obviously 'The Innocents' hits that is-it-just-hysteria? note a little harder than the novella does.)<br /><br />But yeah, there is a point early on in 'The Babadook' when she's talking to all those well-meaning ladies, when they talk about her former career in kids' books.<br /><br />And when she goes to the police (I think after complaining the book keeps popping up) and the officer looks down at her hands, which are ink stained -- I thought that was a hint as well. <br /><br />Personally, I enjoy stories that walk the is-it-or-isn't-it line; I'm most annoyed by stories that seem to do it but then, on re-consideration, included a detail which HAS to be supernatural.<br />StephenWhittyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00803419430207771857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-10089224442753637562014-12-13T21:31:07.545-05:002014-12-13T21:31:07.545-05:00I'll be honest, I don't remember the bit a...I'll be honest, I don't remember the bit about her being a former children's book author. I wish I could back and find that now...<br /><br />Anyhow, yes, I suppose so, but you're talking to a guy who doesn't subscribe to the all-in-her-mind reading of "Turn of the Screw" (and neither did Henry James).bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-43831651271680136252014-12-13T21:12:00.751-05:002014-12-13T21:12:00.751-05:00A lot to chew on here, sir. I need some time, defi...A lot to chew on here, sir. I need some time, definitely, to re-read.<br /><br />The only thing I'll say now, to cherry pick, is your question on where did the Babadook book come from?<br /><br />We're told, at some point, that the mother was a children's book author -- and this volume definitely looks handmade. So isn't it possible -- if you're buying the "Turn of the Screw," all-in-her-mind? reading -- that she made the book herself?StephenWhittyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00803419430207771857noreply@blogger.com