It’s surprising to me that I’ve never written about Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now before now. I first saw it nearly 20 years ago and have seen it two or three times since, including while I was actively writing about movies so I’ve had several opportunities to write about it without pulling the trigger.
Here goes.
Starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland and set in a shadowy Venice, Don’t Look Now is a masterpiece of mood. Watch practically any five minutes of the middle of the film, even without knowing the plot, and you’ll likely be on the edge of your seat.
The plot is, at the end of the day, practically meaningless. Christie and Sutherland are in Venice (a city coincidentally in the midst of a murder spree), while he works on the restoration of a church. They’re also doing their best to recover from the death of their daughter who drowned in an accident. While at lunch one day, they meet a pair of elderly sisters, one of whom has intense psychic visions of the couple and of their daughter. This brush with the paranormal sets the story in motion as the couple deal with the content of the visions and with the surprises the Venice itself presents.
The thing is, it basically doesn’t matter. Yes, the plot is interesting and adds to the tension, but the genius of this film is in its dark, impossibly creepy mood. Every second of the film is loaded with dread. Venice itself is a moody place, but here it’s downright sinister- all angles, shadows and dark, cold water.
Add actors of the caliber of Christie and Sutherland to the mix and it’s just unbeatable.
We were pretty much obsessed with this film when we first saw it as it seemed to have some genetic connection to David Lynch’s Twin Peaks (which we were obsessed with at the time.) If that connection seems like a good one to you, then check this film out.
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