Boxing Helena take II

Wow, you never realize how layered and complicated a movie can be until you...you know, sit down and try to write about it in depth. Professional-like.

Not that this movie is horribly deep--in fact, I'll tell you the problem with it: It's not so much deep as it is see-through but at the same time it juggles so many damn things. The undercurrent that ties it together is obsession. Unfortunately, with all the blatant imagery and symbolism, the other themes running rampant and the asi-asi story line, just having the one thread tying the bundle together isn't enough to keep everything from spilling out, not just in terms of writing a paper but in terms of a movie *d'oh!*

Also, I have to be really careful not to give my best Ebert and give a 2 page review when I'm supposed to be examining. This is so easy it's hard...

You want to hear the weird thing? In addition to making a short outline of it, I also watched an episode of the Night Gallery called She'll Be Company For You. Starring Leonard Nimoy (yeah, he did other shit besides Spock y'all) and Kathryn Hays, it's the story of a lonely widower haunted by his wife's memory--and strange cat. He's driven to madness and you know, bad stuff happens.

Why did I watch this episode other than the fact that I love the Night Gallery? Comparison. Kept my thoughts in order, interestingly enough, comparing this surreal, bloated movie with this short, kinda-to-the-point if still odd episode. Both men are greatly effected by the women in their lives. Both men are eventually driven crazy as fuck with different results. It's interesting...and deserves to be another paper entirely! Hmph! I'm too brilliant for this!