Review of Fear X (2003) by Ian M — 30 Oct 2010
Watched this for the fourth time last night and I still love it. Fear X was dismissed by many as self-consciously sub-Lynchian arty weirdness, but it deserves rediscovery as one of the hidden gems of the 00s.
Director Refn, screenwriter Hubert Selby Jr., and composer Brian Eno catch the somnambulistic dread and strange, suspended weightlessness of grief by making a film so slow and quiet it barely exists. The first reel always envelops me in a particularly ambient cocoon of isolation - deathly scenes of Turturro sitting around the house at night poring over CCTV footage for clues; tiptoeing around the empty bungalow across the street with a torch on a wintry afternoon (until he's interrupted by a rude knock at the door).
I'm convinced I've lived those scenes in a past life. Or maybe I just dreamt them?
This review of Fear X (2003) was written by Ian M on 30 Oct 2010.
Fear X has generally received mixed reviews.
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