The Reflecting Skin (1990)
November 18, 2015 6:58 AM - Subscribe
A young boy tries to cope with rural life circa 1950s and his fantasies become a way to interpret events.
I have a friend who would show this movie to people he met in college as sort of a friendship litmus test. I haven't seen it in some time, but I remember it being gorgeous and strange.
posted by cottoncandybeard at 6:56 AM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by cottoncandybeard at 6:56 AM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
Ah, I forgot that this was happening this week! I might order takeout and double feature this tonight with The Empire Strikes Back for Star Wars club, and then have some really messed up dreams later.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:53 AM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:53 AM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
If y'all can't find a copy, there are VHS rips all over Youtube, fwiw.
Not nearly as weird as I remembered it being. (Truth be told, all I remembered was the first scene--not easily forgotten--so it's entirely possible I never made it beyond that before now.)
Most of the weirdness is in the music, which, while excellent in its own right, just doesn't quite fit the tone of the rest of the movie. Overpowers it. I might've gone with a Morriconesque score, myself.
It's actually a fairly straightforward kid's-eye-view coming-of-age tale. And a really good one, at that. Tragedy up the wazoo, to be sure, but not short on humour. Keeps the subtext sub-text, lets everything unfold organically so you can figure things out yourself.
A super dark Who Has Seen The Wind.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:00 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Not nearly as weird as I remembered it being. (Truth be told, all I remembered was the first scene--not easily forgotten--so it's entirely possible I never made it beyond that before now.)
Most of the weirdness is in the music, which, while excellent in its own right, just doesn't quite fit the tone of the rest of the movie. Overpowers it. I might've gone with a Morriconesque score, myself.
It's actually a fairly straightforward kid's-eye-view coming-of-age tale. And a really good one, at that. Tragedy up the wazoo, to be sure, but not short on humour. Keeps the subtext sub-text, lets everything unfold organically so you can figure things out yourself.
A super dark Who Has Seen The Wind.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:00 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
(I did find the incredibly Canadian accents more than a little distracting. I'm Canadian, and I've always lived in Canada, but there's something altogether uncanny valleyish to me when it comes to hearing Canadian accents in movies.)
posted by Sys Rq at 10:17 PM on November 23, 2015
posted by Sys Rq at 10:17 PM on November 23, 2015
I really appreciate how deep it goes into a kind of prairie gothic horror - almost cosmic horror, at least as much as it holds forth a view of the unforgiving, capricious nature of the universe.
posted by naju at 4:08 AM on November 27, 2015
posted by naju at 4:08 AM on November 27, 2015
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posted by maxsparber at 12:37 PM on November 18, 2015 [1 favorite]