Wednesday, October 9, 2024

"The time between midnight and dawn when most people die, when sleep is deepest, when nightmares are most palatable. It is the hour when the sleepless are pursued by their sharpest anxieties, when ghosts and demons hold sway." Ingmar Bergman


I watched the early directorial work of Kenneth Branagh, DEAD AGAIN......and thought of all the 'supernatural' films of its kind that play on primitive Belief Systems......and there have been hundreds of these...even since Bridey Murphy Days.....all this 'seriousness' just reifies my thoughts about how slowly Civilization seems to evolve out of religious conceptualizations,,,.like 'Souls' that can exist outside mortal bodies, 'Life After Death", Reincarnation and Transmigration...a 'theme' of this Fantasy Movie that took itself so seriously.....Some great actors, nevertheless, earlier in their careers and a darker Robin Williams, in a predictive performance.....a small role by under rated Campbell Scott and some foolishness with Derek Jacobi as the 'funny man' antique dealer/therapist/psychic fortune teller/hoarder.......This film was 'on trend', of course....on the coattails of a dozen films....like it....that were being cranked out by "The Business" of Film-making at 'the hour of the wolf'.....OR: the Whacko Mass Delusional Sytems that "Most" believe as 'Real'.......