Re: The 1974 Mini-List
Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2023 12:01 am
From Beyond the Grave: I had no idea this was an anthology film when I put it on, which really helped me appreciate the first story a lot more, since it dropped us right in with absurdly-agile narrative propulsion: Man gets mirror, has guests over, guests look at mirror, mention it's creepy, one suggests seance, host casually(?!) says, "Seance time!" (yes, verbatim) and we move right into it. This all transpires in like twenty seconds, and I thought it was a hilarious self-conscious engagement with tired genre constraints, but turns out it was probably just fast-tracked for the sake of time. Anyways, the rapid nature of the murders in the first segment was effective at capturing the desperation and powerlessness of the lead, ripped into a life of zombified service to a devilish higher spirit. Displaying an accelerating addiction without any meditation on the progression is an insightful choice, since we often don't get many stops to ruminate on our phases when in the throes of acute compulsions, at least not as many as the movies typically grant their leads to induce audience sympathies. This is curt and brutal supernatural stuff, if a bit thin by the nature of only twenty-odd minutes to explore the process. It's a segment that invests us not in character but in the sensational chaos of crisis. I seem to be watching a lot of these lately, since I felt the exact same way about Yakuza Graveyard (not that this is anywhere close to that level of cinematically-produced dysregulation).
I didn't care much for the second segment, but Angela Pleasence's screen presence sold the creepy elements well as it went along.
The third was an absolute delight. Even before Margaret Leighton's psychic returns to steal the film with a rich blend of comedic influences, the situational comedy of petty marital conflict composites a few witty allegories. There are so many reasons why the friction stemming from forces outside of corporeal control works, but one is the broad, overwhelming impotence of sustaining a trusting relationship in a world where we are powerless over so much and know so little. The other side of the same coin is more specific - as this discord brews in the form of gaslighting accusations, yet comes from an otherworldly presence that the wife is convinced is not just human but a 'specific' human (whom she's diagnosed through a history of relational evidence and accumulated resentment), there's an element of denial and a fatalistic sense of doom for the husband in ever being validated as 'not at fault' as long as she's convinced otherwise, which feels irreversibly ingrained to him. These are perhaps dated gender dynamics, but they are timeless depending on what role an accused partner has in the relationship dynamic. Anyways, it's such a fun, light romp, with too many great details in silly facial expressions, deadpan horseplay, etc. to spend analyzing for too long.
The fourth is a shrug of a climax to bookend the first story. It's not 'bad', but I didn't really care about anything that was happening and it has no reason to exist other than as a crescendo, which doesn't really work if there's no buildup, characterization, narrative device, or theme preceding it.
I didn't care much for the second segment, but Angela Pleasence's screen presence sold the creepy elements well as it went along.
The third was an absolute delight. Even before Margaret Leighton's psychic returns to steal the film with a rich blend of comedic influences, the situational comedy of petty marital conflict composites a few witty allegories. There are so many reasons why the friction stemming from forces outside of corporeal control works, but one is the broad, overwhelming impotence of sustaining a trusting relationship in a world where we are powerless over so much and know so little. The other side of the same coin is more specific - as this discord brews in the form of gaslighting accusations, yet comes from an otherworldly presence that the wife is convinced is not just human but a 'specific' human (whom she's diagnosed through a history of relational evidence and accumulated resentment), there's an element of denial and a fatalistic sense of doom for the husband in ever being validated as 'not at fault' as long as she's convinced otherwise, which feels irreversibly ingrained to him. These are perhaps dated gender dynamics, but they are timeless depending on what role an accused partner has in the relationship dynamic. Anyways, it's such a fun, light romp, with too many great details in silly facial expressions, deadpan horseplay, etc. to spend analyzing for too long.
The fourth is a shrug of a climax to bookend the first story. It's not 'bad', but I didn't really care about anything that was happening and it has no reason to exist other than as a crescendo, which doesn't really work if there's no buildup, characterization, narrative device, or theme preceding it.