Monday, October 30, 2006     « Camera Obscura II »

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Camera Obscura I

Film: "Sweetie" Jane Campion. I watched the Criterion reissue of this last night, having seen the film many times on an old vhs copy. I was really drawn in this time by the stunning visuals. I also watched the "making of" extra wherein the actors explain that they were directed into very tight frames resulting in countless scenes that play like still photos.

Of course like all Campion films I also like the themes present. Below is an excerpt from an interesting article that gets into some of it:

"...this is a film which seems to 'know' just how difficult it is to know, with any certainty, in clear pictures or closed systems of dialogue or voice over, what it was like growing up female and working class, in Australia in the 60s, in a family where husbands are sons to their wives, and daughters are wives to their fathers, where mothers and daughters are rivals and the father a destructive child. What I love about this film is what it does not say, and what it does not show and how it does both without hiding a secret." - Sue Gillett

« Camera Obscura II »