core_memory_jay

"You do that to someone on the streets, they lock you up and throw away the key."

"You don't knock him out, you don't have a home."

The oldest plot in the book, yet they made it look anything but boring. It was a tense narrative all the way through. I was sweating and crying and cheering the whole time. Man, what a roller coaster of a movie. The scenes were all balanced, though.

This is such a "man movie", and, although I mean it in a stereotypical way, I also mean it in a good way. It's already a classic. 140 minutes and you don't feel them. Brilliant cast, brilliant performances, the writing ate. The score helps the scenes quite a lot, and each character has a presence here. If any of them had been absent, you would have noticed that the movie was ''missing something''. I have no idea how this movie didn't get a couple more ''important'' nominations, at least. Most of the fight scenes were almost perfect, they did the best they could in coordinating them.

"He's not your brother, right? He's in the way."

"Wake him up!"

Yea, there's a clear essence of Expressionism in this film. It's easy to see why "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)" is hailed as the "first expressionist film." Imho, it also resonates with Romantic themes and incorporates imagery from mythology and literature.

Still, don't get me wrong (lol), you can absolutely safely say that the film resonates with Expressionism way more than anything else.

The distorted visual style, the sets, and the psychological themes that deal with the interior human condition all scream: "German Expressionism!"

The psychological horrors the unreliable narrator depicted to us, illustrate how individuals can become ideal puppets in the hands of powerful delirant figures who seek to play God while also being "played" by their own minds. To the point where both victim and perpetrator alike can commit "acts that (in a walking stage) they would never commit". A testimony or the result of madness? Whose version do we want to believe?

Surely, these concepts are still an open debate in our modern society, stirring up ugly and uncomfortable feelings, because of their traumatic and moral nature.

The dual obsession driving Caligari's and Francis' actions in the false(?)(who knows, that's up to you to decide) memories symbolizes, to me, the extremes to which compulsive behavior, whether for good or ill, can lead.

Just my two cents, contemplating the intriguing interplay this film seems to engage in (perhaps even unconsciously?-though I have my doubts) between Expressionism and the remnants of Romanticism during that era and the enduring influence that myths and literature in general exert on us and our creative processes and contemplation of the world, even today.

Why literature? Idk, I just can't help but sense echoes of Goethe's "Faust" in the mix.

The fact it was divided into 6 acts tells me something, too, I guess. Or, maybe, I'm just reaching.

One particular scene that struck a chord with me, evoking the mythological aspect within the film's visuals, is the moment when Cesare abducts Jane. It resonated with the imagery of Gian Lorenzo Bernini's sculpture "The Rape of Proserpina." Even though that scene didn't follow what happened in the myth, the frame still had the same effect on me, you know? Especially considering what Francis tells Jane in the last act. It made me think that maybe a part of Francis, the sicker one, was identifying with Cesare during those "flashbacks" or his made up fantasy.

Idk if that scene is actually inspired by something else or what. This is just what the scene reminded me of.

Unfortunately, here on imdb I can't link you the comparison image, so you'll have to look it up for yourself. :( </3.