Review of Don't Look Now (1936) by Kenneth L — 26 Jul 2009

The real star of this movie is neither Sullivan nor the excellent Christie, but moody and creepy Venice. Like the location it was set in, the film seduces and allures, but only puts out on its own terms.

Strong sense of irony in tow, not least because a couple who witnesses the drowning of their daughter decides to travel to water-logged Venice, Nicholas Roeg works wonders with atmosphere, editing, and that old Hitchcockian color of danger, red.

The opening sequence is riveting and Roeg and editor Graeme Clifford jars the viewers' sense of narrative cause and effect with severe edits in and out of the house. A similar technique is used in the now infamous sex scene, and the finale is the richer for it.

Based on the novel by Daphne DuMaurier, the film thrives on a slow burn of subtlety, bewilderment, panic and psychological tension. Nothing really happens in the film but a series of seemingly minute events that are given more import as a result of the opening's brilliant setup.

In an obvious echo to DuMaurier's Rebecca, the couple meet a couple of self-claimed psychic see-ers, as creepy as Mrs Danvers and equally sexually ambiguous - a red herring Roeg uses to tremendous effect. The flaw, however, in the film is ironically in its very strength. With little attention deficit teenagers to contend with in the 70s, Roeg takes his time with the meandering plot - an obvious parallel to the meandering bridges and canals of Venice. By throwing in an excess of non-sequiters, red herrings and nail biting distractions, Roeg accomplishes gripping tension and wild unpredictability and terror, a psychic journey through the inner workings of his characters' mind for sure. However, Roeg also runs the risk of alienating viewers more trained in the language of film today, for immediate cause-effect payoff. While Roeg's excellent finale pays off at the end, the narrative 2 hour journey per se might'nt.

Not for everyone, but definitely the forefather to gems like Polanski's Rosemary's Baby and Shyamalan's Sixth Sense. The film may not hold up well today, but for its time, it's cutting edge stuff.