Me, I found Jacob to be a very sympathetic character, in regards to his family life and the psychological hell he suffers. Tim Robbins nails the role down I think. It has some amazing cinematography and art design and the hellish transitional imagery is conveyed well. Sometimes you catch just a moment's glimpse of something but that was enough to get a rise out of me. More overt scenes like the hospital is one of the best in any kind of horror I've seen (and ending up in the surgery room where everything turns quiet and tense as they screw his head in place as opposed to going shriek! band! loud sound! like a more modern film would do - the conversation with the "doctors," the injection in his head... just one of many scenes to add to the mystery and terror).
It's a genuinely moving film too. Besides the borderline tearjerker ending (which I felt the film or, more specifically, Jacob himself, more than earned at that point), there were other sad scenes contrasted with some presence of terror undermining Jacob I appreciated, going with the theme of "not letting go" and the speech Danny Aiello's chiropractor character gave (great character too btw) about how you can either see things as demons ripping you apart but if you let go they are angels trying to save you. Like when Jacob is in bed and his pre-'Nam wife and kids visit him as sad music plays, it is suddenly undermined by an eerie disembodied voice telling Jacob to "Dream on." It changes the feeling of the scene completely. Or when Jacob thinks he sees Gabe run down the hallway he calls to him (more sad music plays) only for a quit cut to a mild but effective jump scare of one of the head-spinning demons to interfere in his head, causing him to break down. Undermining moments like these keep a great balance between what seems like a life Jacob wants to live, happily, but surrounded by a hellish decayed vision of New York City and being chased by hallucinations and some possible government conspiracy silencing his friends, doctors, and acquaintances through any means necessary. If the ending renders all of that meaningless I just see it as another part of how Jacob tries to rationalize what is essentially his dying dream (nightmare?). And I've mentioned how great a couple actors were, really the whole cast is fantastic. Whether it's Elizabeth Pena (who I only recently found out died last year, what a shock) or Jason Alexander who shows he has far more range than just George Castanza. (TO BE CONT'D BECAUSE THE WHOLE THING WOULDN'T LOAD THAT'S HOW LONG THIS IS BEWARE)
(CONT'D FROM BEFORE) My only criticism would be that we never get any good idea at all what the hell happens to everyone spazzing out, seizing and hemorrhaging, and going on mindless violent rampages that led to Jacob where he was, other than a brief text at the very end of some experimental drug the government denied using to test on Vietnam soldiers to get them to be more aggressive. It cheapens the movie a bit, like, the set-up is all due to some unverified conspiracy theory that isn't even properly integrated into the movie itself?
Well, still, while Adrian "Flashdance" Lyne may not be considered one of the "greats" or "auteurs" of our time out there or really at all, I think he'll have a lasting legacy with this film if nothing else. Not just because it's so good (imo of course) and so unique a film (so the central Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge plotline itself isn't anything new but how it was all executed is something I've never seen before or have seen since except, as you said, the Silent Hill games and all games that take inspiration from them - some early Andrzej Zulawski films kinda remind me of the film but those were far more manic and rooted in bizarre grotesquery than, uh, here). And that this is the only film remotely like this that he's done is also pretty mind-boggling. Look at his filmography and it's pretty much vaguely erotic thrillers/dramas, but here he peered into metaphysical horror and redemption and did a fine job of it so even if all his other films are crap (I haven't seen them lol) he'll hold a special place for me with this film.
Sorry if this is a bit tl;dr for a comments box, but my typing fingers just kept going and going... :P
Well I guess it's nice to get noticed! I never heard of that user. Thanks.
I had one user harass me and my ex so much we had to have them banned and threatened legal action by sharifi since we were both in Ontario. It was just off the charts. They even made fake Myspace profiles in our names. Some people.
It's a genuinely moving film too. Besides the borderline tearjerker ending (which I felt the film or, more specifically, Jacob himself, more than earned at that point), there were other sad scenes contrasted with some presence of terror undermining Jacob I appreciated, going with the theme of "not letting go" and the speech Danny Aiello's chiropractor character gave (great character too btw) about how you can either see things as demons ripping you apart but if you let go they are angels trying to save you. Like when Jacob is in bed and his pre-'Nam wife and kids visit him as sad music plays, it is suddenly undermined by an eerie disembodied voice telling Jacob to "Dream on." It changes the feeling of the scene completely. Or when Jacob thinks he sees Gabe run down the hallway he calls to him (more sad music plays) only for a quit cut to a mild but effective jump scare of one of the head-spinning demons to interfere in his head, causing him to break down. Undermining moments like these keep a great balance between what seems like a life Jacob wants to live, happily, but surrounded by a hellish decayed vision of New York City and being chased by hallucinations and some possible government conspiracy silencing his friends, doctors, and acquaintances through any means necessary. If the ending renders all of that meaningless I just see it as another part of how Jacob tries to rationalize what is essentially his dying dream (nightmare?). And I've mentioned how great a couple actors were, really the whole cast is fantastic. Whether it's Elizabeth Pena (who I only recently found out died last year, what a shock) or Jason Alexander who shows he has far more range than just George Castanza. (TO BE CONT'D BECAUSE THE WHOLE THING WOULDN'T LOAD THAT'S HOW LONG THIS IS BEWARE)
Well, still, while Adrian "Flashdance" Lyne may not be considered one of the "greats" or "auteurs" of our time out there or really at all, I think he'll have a lasting legacy with this film if nothing else. Not just because it's so good (imo of course) and so unique a film (so the central Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge plotline itself isn't anything new but how it was all executed is something I've never seen before or have seen since except, as you said, the Silent Hill games and all games that take inspiration from them - some early Andrzej Zulawski films kinda remind me of the film but those were far more manic and rooted in bizarre grotesquery than, uh, here). And that this is the only film remotely like this that he's done is also pretty mind-boggling. Look at his filmography and it's pretty much vaguely erotic thrillers/dramas, but here he peered into metaphysical horror and redemption and did a fine job of it so even if all his other films are crap (I haven't seen them lol) he'll hold a special place for me with this film.
Sorry if this is a bit tl;dr for a comments box, but my typing fingers just kept going and going... :P
I had one user harass me and my ex so much we had to have them banned and threatened legal action by sharifi since we were both in Ontario. It was just off the charts. They even made fake Myspace profiles in our names. Some people.