Constant State Of Liminality

“THAT MOVIE DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE!” SO WHAT? By Greg Ferrara

Most movies introduce characters, develop a plot, and tell a story. It’s what most of us are used to so when a movie comes along that doesn’t strictly adhere to a linear narrative, well, it can be a little disorienting. But sometimes, a movie can only makes its point, or tell its “story”, by not making any sense at all.

In 1966, Věra Chytilová wrote and directed DAISIES, and it’s been confusing people ever since. But it only confuses you if you go into it expecting a standard narrative that moves from Point A to Point B. DAISIES does tell a story, just not in the way in which most people are accustomed. As I wrote in my official article for Turner Classic Movies, “There is a story to DAISIES, it’s just not in the movie. It is the movie. It’s how the movie is made, where it starts and where and how it ends. Our two young adventurous women feast upon the world (both literally and figuratively as they consume copious amounts of food throughout the course of the film) and, in the end, find guilt and anxiety the reward for working against the state.”

Věra Chytilová was using the medium itself to tell her story and it stands as one of the most powerful uses of film in history. The two main characters, Marie I (Jitka Cerhová) and Marie II (Ivana Karbanová) are stand-ins for the audience, or the people living under oppression in Czechoslovakia at the time the movie was made. The irony is that while Chytilová felt making the film abstract would protect it against censorship, the very notion that the censors couldn’t understand it made it a prime target. Since there was no discernable storyline, they were free to interpret it any way they wanted. As a result, Chytilová was banned from the industry for eight years.

DAISIES is running on FilmStruck right now but FilmStruck has several other titles that have suffered from the criticism that they “don’t make any sense.” Here are some of my favorites, and of course they all make sense, despite the protestations. A movie is not required to explain itself and these films are examples of works that tell their stories in unique, imaginative, and sometimes baffling ways.

No list like this would be complete without including the work of David Lynch and two of his best works are currently available on FilmStruck. ERASERHEAD (’77) and TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (’92). The latter is the prequel to Lynch’s highly successful TV series and well worth a look, whether you’ve watched the show or not. The first, ERASERHEAD, follows Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) as he struggles with everyday existence. There is a plot here, involving neighbors and pregnancies and babies that should never be unswaddled, but it is the style of the film that carries the load of the storytelling.

Then there’s René Laloux’s 1973 animated masterwork, FANTASTIC PLANET. Again, there’s a story here but, also again, it’s the style of the film that is more important. I don’t think I’ve ever watched it after the initial viewing with any expectation of being moved by the literal story as much as by how it is so mesmerizingly animated. It is a movie that truly takes one on a visual journey far stronger than any recitation of the basic story ever could.

Finally, there’s Nobuhiko Obayashi’s 1977 work, HOUSE, a movie that defies almost every genre related trope. It is a horror movie, yes, but one that throws dread and suspense out the window and revels in its mind-boggling visual style. In fact, it hearkens back to DAISIES, in that it opens with two female friends who, by way of a summer vacation gone wrong, have their own bizarre adventures at the house of the aunt of one of them. When a friend disappears only to have her head emerge from a well and bite one of them on the behind, you can be sure you’re not watching a clichéd horror movie. By the end, you still might not be sure what you were watching but at least you’ll know you had a hell of a time doing it.