The Letterbox MOTHER OF PEARL


I want to commend you yet again on #147, another out- standing issue of VIDEO WATCH- DOG. I was really engrossed in the highly entertaining and insightful article on MOTHER OF TEARS. I think the way you brought an exciting round table of Argento experts together, each with their own distinct attitude toward the filmmaker and this one very pe- culiar film, was the best way any assessment could be made. In fact, it made me re-watch sev- eral scenes from the film, as if making me doubt my own origi- nal feelings about it from several months back.


I must say that this film was an absolute disappointment, and this is taking into account the usual Argento-ness of any of his cinema, most of which I usually enjoy. This is why we all come


back to filmmakers we love. I can’t see how anyone can defend this new film’s lack of style as a positive choice (I disagree with much of Brad Stevens’ assess- ment, and cannot agree that a stripped-down Ford masterpiece can be compared to this ram- bling, head-scratching experi- ence), and yet I also can’t agree that budgetary limitations are to be blamed for Argento’s lack of inventiveness. There are wonders being done in the low budget world on any given day, which really hurts any defense for this picture’s photography (let alone special effects). Like others who approached the film, I had hoped for a sense of supernatural “weirdness” that permeated THE CHURCH, a film that seems vi- sually and thematically a closer blood relative to INFERNO than the handful of better moments from this picture. It is all too easy


to jump on the Argento-bashing bandwagon, and yet the film asks us for a response. It is not an easy pill to swallow, unlike the poetry of any past tour de force. I am just sorry this series ended so flatly, concluding with a wasteful ending served with more uninten- tional laughs than shivers. He has an undeniable talent to present the nastiness of darkness in a way that is captivating, unnerv- ing and sometimes wondrous. I wanted to see that picture. I am guessing most people did. All that said, kudos for a great article, and I look forward to many, many more of the same kind. I just don’t think you’ll be getting films worthy of such com- plicated reactions. Well, maybe


Michael Caine as the ever-reliable Alfred in THE DARK KNIGHT.


77

Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84