Dont Look Now
English director Nicolas Roeg began his career in cinema as a cinematographer, contributing to productions like The Caretaker, The Masque of the Red Death and both Lawrence of Arabia and Dr Zhivago made with David Lean . His directorial technique shows that influence – he achieves a definite look in his films which in turn endows them with a sense of place and atmosphere. His love of playing with the narrative by cutting in sometimes portentous or teasing out-of-sequence events to build tension is also a trademark, one that is significant in his 1973 release Don’t Look Now as it would be with his later movie made with David Bowie , The Man Who Fell to Earth.
Based on a Daphne du Maurier story (she also wrote Rebecca of course, and the novella The Birds which Hitchcock filmed) Don’t Look Now is highly emotional, almost melodramatic. It also contains arguably one of the most shocking endings in cinema history (and a still steamy and at the time controversial sex scene).
Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland as the couple who seek a new beginning in Venice (wonderfully and creepily filmed by Roeg) after the death of their daughter work beautifully together, making their love believable and the tragedy trapping and hurting them all the more profound. But it is that ending which stays with you forever, the mystery or part of it instantly resolved, while the violence of a hundred horror flicks evaporates hours after viewing.
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