Review of The Pillow Book (1995) by Gary L — 25 Feb 2016

The picture-in-picture effect must have mesmerized Greenaway while he was making this film. I say this because it was overused in an almost comical way. But, many of the scenes were montages of these with beautiful calligraphy on a transparent background - an effect I never tired of.

Like other Greenaway films, our bodies are of particular interest in many scenes. After the first two films you get the idea. Since we're in the middle of watching the first 3 Star Wars episodes, it was startling to see a young Obi -Wan Kenobi in the altogether for extended periods of time. But the story of Nagiko, who celebrates every birthday while having birthday greetings painted on her face was interesting, and spans many cultures, in every scene. Greenaway is a visual artist - the plots and the performers are just props for him to assemble one fascinating montage after another.

Not a "movie", but a "film" - you have to be look at it the way you'd think about a visit to an art museum. So as the former, it's 4 stars, as the latter 2. One of the 1001 Movies.