Suspiria

Started by WorldForgot, May 16, 2018, 12:00:24 PM

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WorldForgot

Saw this for a third time yesterday, I think it's my favorite of the year.

My first watch, it felt like an explosion of ideas with a handful falling far off from the target. But now I feel the opposite of putney -- I love that it chews on early giallo's seediness and 35mm color tints with designed subtleties, as opposed to the original's Supernatural surrealism, and each frame is stitched into the next to a point where I've never felt the runtime, and always wanted to investigate each shot's production details. This works for me now as Suzy'z metaphysical guilt trip film and as psychological horror from Josef's POV.

What really helped is I finally saw Edward Yang's Terrorizers

That orange pick axe is the first foreboding prop pointed at our witness, but by the time Josef is sitting in the police office, the production design has literally turned on him.

Shughes

Just back from seeing this and not sure what my opinion is. I think I liked it. It sure is overlong and problematic and not for everybody, but it has a way of getting under your skin. Six people walked out during the screening I was at - two of them after arguing with me as I first asked politely, and then told them firmly, to put their phones away - and four due to the pacing from what I could tell.

Spoilers

I don't get why Tilda played multiple roles. I could tell it was her under make up from the first trailer but there was no cinematic payoff to it. I just don't get why they did it - all it did was distract me as I was waiting for some kind of reveal to this obvious trickery.

I also agree that slow motion looks terrible unless it's shot with slow motion in mind. There is an amateur feel to the film at times but I think that rough quality is part of it's alluring charm. It made me think of Nic Roeg during some of the montage work. And it's a lot better than Mother! in my opinion. Thom Yorke's score is excellent - some of the parts with lyrics reminded me of In Rainbows era Radiohead.

Sleepless

I loved it. 2+ hours but actually went by like a breeze. This is the kind of horror film I love, where it's more about the feeling you get throughout. I think the final third had some issues compared with the heights of everything that came before, but still... Can't wait to rewatch and dig into a lot more.
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

Jeremy Blackman

(Light spoilers)

When I hear that a movie "goes off the rails at the end," I actively seek it out, and I usually end up appreciating it, if not loving it. I hoped that would be the case with Suspiria. It was not.

The first hour or so is absolutely magical. I was hooked. But let's be honest here: where it goes is sort of the whole point of the thing. And where it goes is definitely not good or satisfying or coherent in any way that one could extract any significant meaning from. Not only was it a crushing disappointment on a surface level; it left me believing that the movie never really had anything to say.

(I would love to be persuaded, but it would take a lot.)

And yes, Tilda Swinton's other role as the psychiatrist was just awful. For a while I sincerely thought it was another character in disguise, and that tearing off the rubber mask would be a plot development. But no. I just don't understand the point of it. Why do that to an actor? It certainly did nothing for the movie. Maybe it was an experiment to see how well Tilda Swinton could act without using a human face.

Quote from: Shughes on November 17, 2018, 07:28:38 PMAnd it's a lot better than Mother! in my opinion.

Blasphemy!

(In my view, mother! knows what it's doing in every scene and every moment from beginning to end, and it does so masterfully. Suspiria sort of knows what it's doing, then just kind of farts itself to death.)

Jeremy Blackman

After hearing and reading more about this movie, I'm beginning to rethink my opinion. There's an actual mythology with clear intent that I didn't really care to grapple with. I still cannot abide Old Man Swinton, but I fully understand why a person would love Suspiria all the way through the end.

Robyn

Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on January 29, 2019, 12:15:45 AM
After hearing and reading more about this movie, I'm beginning to rethink my opinion. There's an actual mythology with clear intent that I didn't really care to grapple with. I still cannot abide Old Man Swinton, but I fully understand why a person would love Suspiria all the way through the end.

Didn't read your earlier post until now. It felt like a movie that would be right up your alley, so I'm a bit surprised that you didn't love it. There's definitely a lot of stuff that flew right over my head the first time I watched it. Can't wait to rewatch it personally.

And what has wrong with Old Man Swinton? Didn't think it was that distracting while watching it. 

csage97

I finally got around to watching this. Spoilers may follow, just to warn. On the whole, I quite enjoyed it, though I do have some lingering thoughts about how it could've in all practicality been trimmed down a bit .... But on the other hand, I'm personally not averse to different kinds of pacing, and it actually felt oddly (maybe ironically?) refreshing to see a story be told in this way. At times, it felt tedious with its setting, pacing, acting, and flushed-of-colour cinematography, but the irony here for me personally is that it all fit seemed to amplify the mood of the characters and the themes and pull me into its world. There's stuff in the story about shame, both about those who feel it and those who suffer the consequences of people who are or aren't shameful about something bad they did by abusing their power. It's in part about thinking about and taking time to reflect on actions, or about the slowness that comes after others have negatively affected your life. And so the slow, drab mood seemed to envelope me in melancholy, which some of the characters feel.

Still, some of the story and probably some intended meaning did seem to instead deliver vagueness. The story mostly made sense to me, though there are parts that still seem unclear (for example, did only those who supported Madame Markos abuse their power and abuse the girls in the company? I can't really remember and it's hard to take note of who supported Markos and what they did throughout the movie). Nonetheless, I want to say that the movie gave me enough to work with and enough to think about, which becomes a lot of the fun too. Even that stuff I just said about shame ... I'm actually unsure of whether or not Susie wants Klemperer (the elderly doctor) to be held accountable for saying some women were delusional when they were not. (Should he be in the eyes of the movie's characters?) So the story gets confusing in places like that, and possibly even confused in itself.

Admittedly, I didn't know that Swinton played Klemperer throughout watching the film. It worked for me pretty well, so I don't really have complaints (in other words, I don't think anything was lost by having Swinton play the doctor).

The ending was pretty crazy, really. That ritual scene with Thom Yorke playing on the soundtrack was awesome. Granted, I am on the fence about the poorly done slow mo. It feels very student/amateur film-ish at times, and I'm unsure if it immersed me more or if I should feel it came out campy. I dunno.

I'll probably watch this one again and try to pick up on anything I missed/see if there are more pieces to be put together.

Edit: Some other questions that I have:
-Is Susie good or bad by the end? She seems to me to either be taking out vengeance (albeit in a horrific way) on the Markos supporters for abusing power, or simply claiming power for power's sake with no moral influence factoring in, and thus abusing power for her own gain. However, if she is getting vengeance, does she not consider Klemperer to have abused his own power by claiming delusion in the women he's "treated"?
-How do the students not pick up on the odd behaviour of the teachers? The teachers/directors obviously behave in some off-putting ways, which is very apparent to the audience right away. It's clear that Susie should be put off by the behaviour at the academy and isn't, and that's probably because of her what's inside of her that becomes her awakening (a prime example of this is when she see's the teachers messing around with the bewitched detectives). But what about the other students? Clearly at least some of them are not in on the conspiracy, as evidenced by what happens to Sarah and Patricia. Do only some of them start to suspect the weird behaviour, and is the movie telling us this by what happens with Olga, Sarah, and Patricia, while the other students are just happy to be in the academy and dismiss/don't notice the suspicious behaviour?
-How is the disappearance of the Markos supporters explained the next day after the ritual to the remaining students?

pynchonikon

(Not that there was anyone who actually ever believed in this possibility)

https://www.twitter.com/FilmUpdates/status/1326925456566849536


WorldForgot

btw We Are Who We Are iz beautiful!! Anyone interested in coming of age stories should at least try it out.

Also JB i want to do a Halfborn style essay on Suspiria 2018, cuz Halfborn iz that frkn inspiring and this film quite misregarded.

Jeremy Blackman

Oh that could be fun...

Drenk

It could be named: UNMADE.

Ascension.