Last night - Halloween - started off Mayhem Horror Festival at the Broadway Cinema. Horror masterpiece Don't Look Now was set to screen in the chillingly gothic atmosphere of St. Mary's Church. There was a real Autumn chill in the air and a sense of anticipation to see one of world cinema's greats, Nic Roeg, speak in person. The man himself, in conversation with Steven Sheil, was modest, funny, and softly-spoken, discussing the motifs and themes of his film as something of a haphazard experiment. He gives the impression of a director who works very intuitively; he expounded his belief that the right actors 'come to the role' and he cites his fascination with chance, fate, and the odd coincidences of life as the working theme that runs through Don't Look Now. When asked about the intimate sex scene between Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, Roeg shied away from discussing any of the more sordid questions involved (The 'was it real?' debate still raging on,) and focused on the 'return of sensuality' to the couple's marriage after the empty grief that had overwhelmed them.
As for the movie itself, the print was faultless. Roeg's nerve-shredding cross-cuts and montage sequences create a deeply unsettling, elegiac framework of memory and grief. The small incidences and vaguely demonic iconography is paired with the steady emotional realism of a man and woman on the verge of losing their precarious grasp on sanity. Venice is a city of shadows, a sort of graveyard in itself; its regal beauty is frozen in the relentless flow of history. It remains one of the most disturbing and ideal settings for any film; a 'city under aspic' as the blind woman says, and one with many faces. Of course, the decadent beauty of Renaissance and Gothic art has always been closely aligned with death, and Roeg's vision of Venice perfectly marries the two. The tension - and confusion - between the earthly and supernatural in Don't Look Now disturbs conventions and ultimately leads to a shock the likes of which few audiences ever forget.
(Taken from the Mayhem Fest Facebook Page.)