Moon In The Gutter (1983/Cinema Libre DVD)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: C+
Continuing
my mixed look at the films of Jean-Jacques Beineix, his 1983 film Moon In The Gutter wants to be a color
Hitchcock thriller in the mode of Vertigo
and Marnie, but gets too sidetracked
too often with surrealism and fancy editing to add up to what it could
have. Gerard Depardieu plays a man
(named Gerard!) who cannot believe his sister has been raped, killed and left
for dead in a gutter. Making things more
interesting is the sudden appearance of a beautiful woman named Loretta
(Nastasha Kinski at the height of her beauty) becomes involved with here when
he should be solving the murder.
As a sort
of parallel character to Loretta, Bella (Victoria Abril) is his girlfriend, but
in all this, we never get much of an investigation of the murder, never learn
about his sister and the film becomes Beineix’s attempt to do something
Hitchcockian without much of an edge. Not
that I was expecting him to be like Brian De Palma, but this becomes more of a
visual piece with limited points and the abstractness of the film only goes so
far. Not the biggest fan of Depardieu to
being with, Kinski and the unconventional nature of this film save it from
being worse.
Also,
some of the editing and fighting scenes fall flat, yet this is an ambitious
work worth seeing once, despite disappointing.
Dominique Pinion also stars.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image can be colorful, but has weak Video
Black and detail can be a challenge, give or take some optical printing that
simply does not work. Director of
Photography Philippe Rousselot (Diva,
Hope & Glory) shot this in real
anamorphic 35mm Panavision and is some of the best work of his career;
especially since he has become such a commercial cameraman in recent
years. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
sound is from the Dolby A-type analog theatrical stereo sound the film was
originally issued in, has weak surrounds if that and shows its age, though
Gabriel Yared’s score helps. Extras
include stills and an interview segment devoted to the film by MovieMaker
Magazine publisher Tim Rhys.
- Nicholas Sheffo
