185 - Don't Look Now

Neither of us has ever seen classic British thriller Don't Look Now before, though we're keenly aware of the esteem in which it is held. And it's fair to say that we're blown away by the expressive visual design and editing style, though Mike at first admits to a certain degree of nonplussedness - a film's reputation for greatness can often result in a dampened experience when it is finally encountered - but finds that the film quickly opens up as we discuss it. Don't Look Now is about grief, and expresses it at a formal level. Donald Sutherland's character is unable to save his daughter from drowning at a young age, and thereafter, Mike argues, cannot prevent images of her death from flashing into his mind, just as they flash into the film with no warning. His wife, played by Julie Christie, handles her grief differently, and we discuss whether she does so more successfully than her husband - but if there's something on which we agree, it's that the film primarily conveys his point of view and experience of his grief rather than hers. José considers the film's depiction of Venice, dilapidated, sparse, but still beautiful. We think about the film's place in the canon, its status as a great horror, comparing it to other British oddities such as Under the Skin and Kill List - is it even right to think of these as horror? And we try to get a handle on some of the motifs used, such as the supernatural element underpinning the husband's experiences, the red-hooded figure, the elderly sisters, a motif of doubling and replacement, and more, but often having to resort to the anodyne comfort of asserting that this is a film that would benefit from repeated viewing. However, even after seeing it once, Don't Look Now captures our imagination and burns its wonderful, imaginative imagery into our minds. If you haven't seen it, this 4K restoration is doing the rounds as we speak, and it's how the film should be seen. It images are meaningful and considered. See it in a cinema and it'll get its hooks into you just as it's supposed to. Recorded on 13th and 14th October 2019.