02-28-2021, 01:30 PM
I watched Menkes' Queen of Diamonds previously, about a woman endlessly dealing hands at a blackjack table in Vegas. What a relief to venture into new territory after that.
In Phantom Love, Lulu is a croupier at a roulette table endlessly accepting bets and spinning the wheel. Diverging further from Queen of Diamonds, this isn't Vegas. Some parts of the film take place in Koreatown, LA, and some take place in Rishikesh, India (had to consult wikipedia to learn this). I presume the gambling establishment is in the latter.
But croupiering isn't the only thing Lulu does. She talks on the phone with her mother, endlessly trying to discourage her from coming out and moving in with her. She tries to help her mentally ill sister. Her own mental state is questionable, as she compulsively and frantically files her long red nails, and she might be subject to hallucinations, as there's always a large boa constrictor in the long hallway to her apartment that hisses menacingly as she delicately steps around or over it. Then there's the octopus shown in close-up writhing its legs as they do; but without context it's hard to know where it is, and maybe it's just a mental thing. Like when she just floats up from her bed at one point.
Then there's the sex. The movie opens with a sex scene. Really, you just see the hairy back and shoulders of some man as he thrusts mechanically away. The camera wanders slightly, so occasionally you see Lulu's face beneath, unenthused, staring blankly at the ceiling or aside, occasionally closing her eyes, just enduring the event. That first sex scene lasts 20 minutes, it seems, and there are several such scenes in the movie, all which play out the same.
Anyway, I'm done with Nina Menkes -- or so I thought until I looked her up on wikipedia. Wow, she is one smart and accomplished woman. But I think she's pulled a Joyce-ian Finnegan's Wake, creating a film language all her own, and the only way to understand or appreciate her work is to have some authority explain it to you.
But here's why I'm not yet done with her. According to imdb, she is currently working on a documentary called Brainwashed. Capsule description:
In Phantom Love, Lulu is a croupier at a roulette table endlessly accepting bets and spinning the wheel. Diverging further from Queen of Diamonds, this isn't Vegas. Some parts of the film take place in Koreatown, LA, and some take place in Rishikesh, India (had to consult wikipedia to learn this). I presume the gambling establishment is in the latter.
But croupiering isn't the only thing Lulu does. She talks on the phone with her mother, endlessly trying to discourage her from coming out and moving in with her. She tries to help her mentally ill sister. Her own mental state is questionable, as she compulsively and frantically files her long red nails, and she might be subject to hallucinations, as there's always a large boa constrictor in the long hallway to her apartment that hisses menacingly as she delicately steps around or over it. Then there's the octopus shown in close-up writhing its legs as they do; but without context it's hard to know where it is, and maybe it's just a mental thing. Like when she just floats up from her bed at one point.
Then there's the sex. The movie opens with a sex scene. Really, you just see the hairy back and shoulders of some man as he thrusts mechanically away. The camera wanders slightly, so occasionally you see Lulu's face beneath, unenthused, staring blankly at the ceiling or aside, occasionally closing her eyes, just enduring the event. That first sex scene lasts 20 minutes, it seems, and there are several such scenes in the movie, all which play out the same.
Anyway, I'm done with Nina Menkes -- or so I thought until I looked her up on wikipedia. Wow, she is one smart and accomplished woman. But I think she's pulled a Joyce-ian Finnegan's Wake, creating a film language all her own, and the only way to understand or appreciate her work is to have some authority explain it to you.
But here's why I'm not yet done with her. According to imdb, she is currently working on a documentary called Brainwashed. Capsule description:
Quote:Investigates the politics of cinematic shot design, and how this meta-level of filmmaking intersects with the twin epidemics of sexual abuse/assault and employment discrimination against women, with over 80 movie clips from 1896 - 2020.That sounds fascinating. It would make a fine companion piece to Amend: The Fight for America, which I'm also planning to see -- right after Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan