A peculiar movie indeed, any movie that has an extended shitting scene is surely a stunner in its own right.
The first thing that struck me is how everyday they make the shoot feel. Even at the very start, there’s a shot of a corridor on the second floor, and before anything happens, we see a person run by a small portion of road momentarily. It really made me wonder how choreographed this movie could be or if in fact it was editing together a series of unplanned moment alongside their scripted and produced moments.
Blurring this line really made for an interesting series of thoughts through the viewing. I don’t know if it’s my constant overthought or something else, but the extended holding of a shot really lends itself for my mind to frantically scramble for a meaning or reason. What is he trying to do by holding it so long, what’s going on, where is this leading, can someone give me an answer (probably not). But the longer it goes on the more I think that there is a motive to induce discomfort within the viewer. Surely in the scene where one lady is cleaning an older ladies leg with some kind of ailment is intended to induce some level of grotesque discomfort, especially when a mouth starts to get involved.
Additionally I learnt that the song at the end is the only time a song or audio is heard that wasn’t present during/in the scene itself. It’s not something I particularly thought of till i was informed. Though that’s often my approach to a lot of things.
Lastly, it reminded my of another film wherein a family or something living in a rural/jungle house is inhabited or visited by spirits. It’s styling was similar to this movie and having seen more than just one of these kinds of shows really made me start to ponder about the intents involved in shooting in this manner. The people involved in these styles of film are doing so with very specific intents and I tend to lean onto the idea that nothing is left to chance. This harks back a little to wondering how choreographed even the most seemingly everyday background events are. And with nothing left to chance, perhaps part of the intent is to indeed induce this sort of dialogue and extended thought, active engaged thought in the themes and events portrayed in the film. Which I’d hazard a guess, that the directors find more effective than conventional methods of film narratives, and I personally, considering how much this show has made me seek for answers, I’d agree.
