HSP: THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE TERRORS OF THE MIND (2013, Rouzbeh
Rashidi, A+25)
This film makes me think about the following things:
1.I like this film very much, because it gives me a strange
experience. It shows me stunning images and scenes, without discernible
storyline. When I was watching it, I felt a little bit ambiguous. I like the
images and sound in this film very much, but I’m not sure if I would have liked
it more or not if the film chose to tell a story. This ambiguous feeling is
what I rarely experience from other films.
At the end it says that this film is a tribute to Jean Rollin. In
my opinion,
I think this film is what I want Jean Rollin and Tarsem Singh to
do: to make a film purely based on their ability to create stunning images and
scenes, but without a story to weigh them down, or without a story to diminish
the power of their images.
HSP: THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE TERRORS OF THE MIND makes me think
about many films and many directors for various reasons, especially Tarsem
Singh. It makes me think about Tarsem Singh, because I like the images and
scenes in SWEET LULLABY (1993, Tarsem), THE CELL (2000, Tarsem), and THE FALL
(2006, Tarsem), very much, but THE CELL and THE FALL are a little bit
disappointing for me, because the stories in these two films weigh the images
down. The stories in these two films are not as powerful as the images. The
stories somehow diminish the true power of the images. But SWEET LULLABY, which
is a music video, doesn’t have this problem, because it doesn’t focus on
telling a story. Its images and scenes can overwhelm me directly.
I also think some films by Jean Rollin suffer from the same
problem. I like the images and scenes in LE VIOL DU VAMPIRE (1967) and VAMPIRE
THRILLS (1970), but I can’t say I’m impressed with the stories in these two
films. I think the stories in these two films have a lot to be improved.
HSP: THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE TERRORS OF THE MIND shows me
another way to make a film. It shows how stunning images and scenes can release
their full power, without being hidden or obstructed by the stories or the
narrative. So this film by Rashidi makes me think about what I would like Jean
Rollin and Tarsem to do: to create a film full of stunning images and scenes
which are loosely tied together. The film should try to tell no obvious story,
but let the viewers imagine the story by themselves if they choose to do so.
2.However, telling no story can be both a good thing and a bad
thing. Telling no story is the reason why I much prefer HSP: THERE IS NO ESCAPE
FROM THE TERRORS OF THE MIND to the films by Tarsem and Jean Rollin, but maybe
it is also one of the reasons why this film doesn’t overwhelm me completely or
make me feel completely involved in the film.
While I was watching HSP: THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE TERRORS OF
THE MIND, I felt a little bit lost or disconnected from the film from time to
time. There are two reasons why I feel like this. Firstly, it is because the
film doesn’t tell an exciting story. Secondly, it is because some images and
scenes don’t inspire me that much.
Therefore, though I prefer this film to the films of Tarsem and
Jean Rollin, I have to say I may like this film a little bit less than the
films of Alain Robbe-Grillet and David Lynch. I think Robbe-Grillet and Lynch
are the examples of directors who can combine stunning images with exciting
stories. The stories in their films don’t weigh the images down, but serve the
images very well, or make the images become more intriguing and powerful.
Therefore, while HSP: THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE TERRORS OF THE MIND doesn’t
suffer from stupid stories or boring stories, the film doesn’t get help from
exciting stories, either.
3.Though some scenes and images in HSP: THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE
TERRORS OF THE MIND inspire me to create a story in my own head, I have to say
that the images in this film may not correspond totally with my wavelength. I
mean the images in this film are stunning and powerful for me, but only to a
certain degree. That is not the fault of this film or the director. This thing
is about my personal tastes.
In a way, I would like to compare HSP: THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE
TERRORS OF THE MIND with DARK SLUMBER (2013, Teeranit Siangsanoh, 19.30min,
A+25) for a few reasons. I would like to show these two films together, because
both of them are extremely eerie and atmospheric. Both of them tell no story,
and both of them inspire me to create a story in my own head.
However, I have to say that the images in DARK SLUMBER correspond
to my wavelength a little bit more and scare me more than the images in HSP:
THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE TERRORS OF THE MIND. The images in DARK SLUMBER are
mostly about dark rooms, or rooms in which the light isn’t switched on, in an
ordinary building. These images are not as strange as the images in TERRORS OF
THE MIND, but maybe that is the reason why these images are more frightening
for me. The realistic quality of the images in DARK SLUMBER makes me feel
unsafe in real life. DARK SLUMBER makes me realize, or imagine with a great
excitement, that there is an unknown danger waiting for me in any ordinary
buildings. DARK SLUMBER makes me realize that my ordinary life and the life of
characters in a horror film or a thriller film are not that far apart.
That is not to say that DARK SLUMBER is a better film than HSP:
THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE TERRORS OF THE MIND, because I think the filmmakers
of these two films have different aims. I don’t think Rashidi wants to simply
scare us with this film. What I want to say is just that though both films are
extremely eerie without a story, there are some interesting differences between
them. DARK SLUMBER is more realistic, so it makes me imagine about danger in my
real life, and that’s why it can scare me more than Rashidi’s film. On the
other hand, HSP: THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE TERRORS OF THE MIND inspires me to
think about some fictional stories which may be far from my real life, such as
a story about a secret cult or a secret organization which have members all
around the world. I also like the beauty of the images in this film very much,
but its beautiful colors are not realistic, so the way this film pleases me is
different from the way of DARK SLUMBER.
In conclusion, DARK SLUMBER pleases me like THE TEXAS CHAINSAW
MASSACRE (1974, Tobe Hooper) or JEEPERS CREEPERS (2001, Victor Salva), because DARK
SLUMBER is realistic and raw, while HSP: THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE TERRORS OF
THE MIND please me like SUSPIRIA (1976, Dario Argento) or RED QUEEN KILLS 7
TIMES (1972, Emilio Miraglia), because it thrills me with its eerie atmosphere
and beautiful images. The first group of films makes me want to say, “It’s so
exciting and scary.” The second group of films makes me want to say, “It’s so
exciting and weirdly beautiful.”
4. The scenes which correspond to my wavelength the most in HSP:
THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE TERRORS OF THE MIND may be the blue scenes of the
woman. These scenes inspire my imaginations the most when compared to other
scenes in the film. I think it is because I tend to identify myself with a
female character, or I tend to imagine a story focusing on strange female
characters. This is about my personal tastes, too. Obviously, the film would
correspond totally with my wavelength or my imaginative world if the film was
full of scenes showing strange female characters doing strange things in eerie
landscapes.
5. In a way, HSP: THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE TERRORS OF THE MIND
reminds me of AMER (2009, Hélène Cattet + Bruno Forzani) and A PLACE AMONG THE
LIVING (2003, Raoul Ruiz), because HSP seems to play with some elements of
genre films like what these two films do. In the case of AMER, it plays with
elements of giallo films, and it doesn’t focus on telling a story. What is
important in AMER includes the images, the atmosphere, the editing, and a few
other elements of giallo films. It excites or thrills us with the styles of
giallo films, but not with its own story. As for A PLACE AMONG THE LIVING, it
seems to me that the film wants to poke fun at the film-noir genre or wants to
have fun with some elements of film noir, instead of trying to impress the audience
with its own original story.
HSP also doesn’t try to impress us with its own story, but it gives
us the eerie atmosphere which can be found in some horror films. In many horror
films, the eerie atmosphere is only one element among many other elements, but
in HSP, the eerie atmosphere becomes the main focus. That’s why I think HSP
should be screened with AMER and DARK SLUMBER, because these three films focus
on some interesting elements of horror films.
6.Many elements and scenes in HSP also remind me of many other
films that I like, for example:
6.1 The mask in HSP reminds me of the mask in JUDEX (1963, Georges
Franju) and DANGER:DIABOLIK (1968, Mario Bava). The masks in these three films
don’t look alike, though.
6.2 The eerie atmosphere with the expressive use of beautiful
colors reminds me of some European horror films, such as the films of Jean
Rollin, Jesus Franco, and DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (1971, Harry Kümel).
6.3 The scenes of some people who look like moutaineers negotiating
some rugged terrains remind me of some eerie films with moutain landscapes,
such as THE CURSE (1988, Ralf Huettner, West Germany) and CURSE OF THE ALPS
(2010, Michael Steiner, Switzerland).
6.4 Some images in this film are partly blurred. Only the center of
the images is clear, but other parts of the images are blurred. This style
reminds me of POST TENEBRAS LUX (2012, Carlos Reygadas)
6.5 The scene in which Maximilian Le Cain brings something to James
Devereaux unintentionally reminds me of the scene in MULHOLLAND DRIVE in which
a character finds a blue box in her purse. I don’t know why my mind links these
two scenes together. I guess it is because these two scenes seem to suggest
that the protagonist now finds a way to solve his/her problems, or maybe not.
Or it is because these two scenes present a mysterious thing which seems to be
very important to the story. But at the end of the film I still don’t know what
the thing that Le Cain brings to Devereaux is. I still don’t know what the blue
box in MULHOLLAND DRIVE stands for, either.
7. I’m not good at listening. So I don’t understand every word that
Devereaux says at the beginning of the film. If I hear it correctly, he seems
to talk about a bully.
I’m not sure who the bully that he talks about is, and I’m not sure
if what he says is very important for this film or not. Actually I don’t understand
this film at all. But I have some fun trying to think about things like this:
7.1 Maybe this character talks about a bully in his life.
7.2 Maybe he talks about himself. The bully is his split personality.
7.3 Maybe the bully means Hollywood films.
7.4 Maybe the bully means “narrative” or “story” which oppresses
the images.
8. Because this film doesn’t tell an obvious story, it means each
viewer can create thousands of different stories out of the scenes or images in
this film by themselves. This quality of the film gives me a very unusual viewing
experience. While I was watching this film for the first time, I asked myself, “Should
I try to give meanings to what I see and hear?” or “Should I just experience
it, instead of trying to give meanings to it or creating a story out of it?”
While I was watching this film for the first time, I was inspired
to create a story out of the scenes that I saw by myself. At first, I tried to
imagine a story about a secret cult or a secret organization which have members
all around the world. But after a while, I found it too difficult to create a
coherent story which can cover all the scenes in HSP satisfyingly. I also
realize that while I was trying to give meanings to an image or a scene in this
film, it seems as if I have killed some power inside the image. Some images or
scenes in this film are very powerful for me, but when I try to use them in a
story inside my head, it seems as if some power in these images or scenes have
been lost or destroyed.
So while I was watching this film for the second time, I didn’t try
to imagine a story by myself. I let myself experience the images and sound in
this film without trying to impose a story on it. However, I found that this
approach to the film gives me a very pleasant experience, but not an extremely
ecstatic experience. Like what I said before, I guess it is because the film
does not correspond totally with my wavelength. On the other hand, I felt ecstatic
while I was watching WINDOWS (1999, Apichatpong Weerasethakul) or ZOETROPE
(2011, Rouzbeh Rashidi) without trying to impose a story on them. I guess it is
because these two films correspond totally with my wavelength.
Anyway, I still like it very much that HSP inspires me to try to approach
it with different ways. It is rare to find a film which has this kind of effect
on me.
9. While I was trying to imagine a story out of HSP, I found that
what is interesting is how to link many things in the film together. This act
of linking gives me both the joy and the headache. This film inspires me to
link:
9.1 Various scenes together. It makes me want to find a way to
create narrative relationships between these scenes
9.2 Various places in the film together. This film seems to shift
between many places in the world.
9.3 The past and the present. The scenes of some people relocating
and the scenes of the mountaineers seem to occur in the past, because the
format of these scenes is different from the format of other scenes in the
film.
9.4 The inside and the outside of the characters. There are many
scenes in HSP which make me question if they happen inside the characters’
heads or not.
In conclusion, this aspect of HSP somehow makes me think about the
power of cinema, especially the shift of space and time in cinema.
10. HSP: THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE TERRORS OF THE MIND also
reminds me of L’EXPERIENCE PREHISTORIQUE (2003-2008, Christelle Lheureux,
80min). L’EXPERIENCE PREHISTORIQUE is a silent film with no story of its own,
but more than ten writers from all over the world were invited to create a
story of their own out of this same film. When it was shown in Bangkok, Prabda
Yoon, a famous Thai writer, created a story out of this film. His story is
about a Japanese family who is anxiously awaiting news about one of its member
who is taken hostage in Iraq (if I remember it correctly). When it was shown in
other countries, the story of the film changed according to different writers,
though all images in the film stayed the same each time it was shown.
I guess HSP can be adapted into a project like L’EXPERIENCE
PREHISTORIQUE. I guess many viewers of HSP might be inspired like me to create
a story of their own out of this film, especially young viewers whose
imagination are not too bound by logic and reasons. However, these viewers
might experience difficulty like me, because it is very difficult to link all
these things in the film together.
In conclusion, I think HSP is powerful and great as it is, without
an obvious story in it. But it is also a great fun to try to create a story of
your own out of it. Anyway, sometimes I wonder if the will to impose a
narrative on this film is “the terrors of the mind” or not.
11.If I have to create a story out of HSP, what would I create? What
is my imaginative story inspired by this film? My imagination inspired by this
film is about a secret cult like the one in the novel FLICKER by Theodore
Roszak. This cult, which originated a few thousand years ago, is trying to
locate two old 16mm films: one is about a mountain trip, the other is about a
family’s relocation, because these two old films contain some secrets which will
lead to a sacred thing or the treasure that the cult is trying to find. The
search for these two old films and ultimately the sacred thing brings the cult
members to various places around the world. Devereaux may play a secret agent
from the government who is trying to infiltrate this cult. The woman in blue
scenes may be the real leader of this cult. However, I wonder how I can connect
the scene of the guy who talks about “smelling” to this story. Hahaha.
12.HSP also inspires me to think about a story about some mental
landscapes. Many scenes in this film are surrealistic because they are
presented in strange colors. I think these scenes may happen in a character’s
mind, instead of happening in reality. So I also imagine a story in which there
maybe only one or two real characters, and the other characters are in fact the
split personalities of Devereaux’s character, or something like that.
In this aspect, HSP reminds me of some films which deal with mental
landscapes, such as films by Faozan Rizal, THE CELL, DREAMCATCHER (2003,
Lawrence Kasdan), DREAMTRIPS (1999, Kal Ng, Hong Kong, 90min), eXistenZ (1999,
David Cronenberg), IDENTITY (2003, James Mangold), INCEPTION (2010, Christopher
Nolan), MIDNIGHT RAINBOW (2008, Patha Thongpan), PACIFIC RIM (2013, Guillermo
Del Toro), and UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD (1991, Wim Wenders). I like this kind
of films very much.
13.I also like the two special ways HSP uses while changing from
one scene to another: one way is by the flickering of the images, the other way
is by showing us a pool of messy colors.
In conclusion, HSP: THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE TERRORS OF THE MIND
makes me think about the marriage between stunning images and stories. There
are failed marriages, such as in some films by Jean Rollin and Tarsem Singh.
There are successful marriages, such as in films by David Lynch and Alain
Robbe-Grillet. There are also cases in which the story decides appropriately to
stay single, such as in LE CAMION (1977, Marguerite Duras), DEAD MAN’S STORY
(2012, Thanapruet Prayoonprom), and TEN TINY LOVE STORIES (2002, Rodrigo
Garcia), because these films don’t try to depict the stories the films tell,
but focusing on the act of telling instead. And there are also wonderful cases
in which the stunning images decide appropriately to stay single, such as in
TAKE THE 5:10 TO DREAMLAND (1976, Bruce Conner), DARK SLUMBER, and HSP: THERE
IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE TERRORS OF THE MIND.
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