gkallen7

Although very well acted, shot and edited, I felt somewhat let-down by this precis of the Hamlet-Ophelia relationship. The contemporary setting, seen mostly in B&W flashbacks, flattens the characters of the pair into unimportant nobodies. The feminist viewpoint (created by the Hamlet actor/scenarist) is all that comes through: that Ophelia, in the presence of Hamlet, is "tongue-tied by authority". It is beautiful to watch, but titling it "Ophelia" led me to hope for more.

Although created for German cinema audiences, the version which appears on the Kino Video 'Avant Garde 2: Experimental Cinema 1928-1954' DVD set has been adapted for English-speaking audiences. This 'rebus' film is a visual crossword puzzle which was shown in two parts. In the first 10-minute segment, the half-dozen clues are presented through both vivid animation bits as well as film clips derived from current newsreels. There is even a pause to allow the audience to bring out their pencils and paper which the average moviegoer was assumed to be carrying on his/her person. Then a separate short film was shown before the Rebus Film returned for a 5-minute wrap-up, in which the solutions are shown one by one and the viewers can congratulate themselves on their cleverness.

This is a rather stylized representation of a day in the life of a New York street mugger which blends the dialog and timing of a stage play with monochrome art film cuts to give an overview in several chapters of how a Small Time thug's routine escalates to the almost inevitable conclusion of murder. Early scenes of his home life show him almost relating to his mother and two half-siblings, all of whom rely on his street skills to keep them fed. Later he meets up with his work friends who pass the time between muggings by practicing their rap routines. Most of the film's running time is devoted to his pattern of stalking likely victims--usually older women--on the sidewalks and in the subways of New York. When the opportunity arises, he allows himself to be taken home for gay sex, but his anger always suggests a violent conclusion. By the time the hand gun appears, the conclusion is obvious, but the reasoning remains unclear. Vince is not an antihero, nor even a tragic victim, and why such a character rates his own movie is a question without an answer.