Apr 28, 2018

Providence

Saw Providence, a clever film that opens on a court scene where a soldier is being interrogated for shooting down a werewolf. The scene is being narrated by an old man, as though he too is watching the same film we are. It soon becomes clear however that this man narrating the film is an author, dying and drunk in bed, writing one last story. This story is what we are seeing. The characters slosh about, one becoming the mother of another, a bit-character incongruously showing up where they didn't belong, as the author loses track of the plot and begins to slip into his own reminiscences. A high-concept premise which is more-or-less given justice by the film. Good show.

The film was made in the 70s and has the same man-raging-against-society themes that were so hot back then. If I were in a less charitable mood, I'd probably be annoyed at the author's self-described assholishness. As is however, he is very visibly and obviously dying, so his strange raging at/celebration of his past life makes more sense. Not everything in the novel universe is explained or even tied up in any meaningful way, but we end on a high note which is nice.

This was a clever, fun film that I liked. It has some weak spots but seeing real life poke obtrusively into the story was fun, and extrapolating what this meant was fun too.

No comments:

Post a Comment