"The Reflecting Skin"

[Dr. Bantham]

Quote

Sometimes terrible things happen quite naturally."

Has anyone seen this movie? It is among my favorites.

[Soukesian]

Good one, hadn't thought about it for ages. A little ponderous, but some amazing imagery.

The director, Philip Ridley, did another movie "Passion of darkly Moon", that I never caught up with. Anyone seen it?

Ridley made his name in the UK with a series of plays, notably "Pitchfork Disney" and has since written a string of kids books.

S

[Dr. Bantham]

I feel that "ponderous" is more a dimension of the intended mood conveyance than a sense of the vehicle employed. The illusion of innocence is rejected by a child, prematurely unveiling the horrific tragedies that ultimately define the despair that is life. For me, the stark reality of existence portrayed therein is akin to a certain atmosphere I am often subjected to in Ligotti's work.

As for "The Passion of Darkly Noon", I have seen it and I was vastly disappointed. It seemed to be abstract for the sake thereof, and I found the symbolism to either be wholly contrived or otherwise beyond my grasp.

I am intrigued by Ridley's current efforts. There is a great deal of irony that the man behind Seth Dove is writing children's books. Very strange...

[Aetherwing]

Have not seen the Reflecting Skin, but I did see Darkly Noon. What a bizarre film. It was...interesting. (I happen to enjoy the view presented by Ashley Judd, as shallow as that may sound...)

Other than that, I agree with Doc B. The symbolism was either pretentious or beyond my scope. A Giant Shoe floating down the river?

Odd.

Walking Not In Straight Lines,
Aether

[scharpen]

Ridley is a lot more prolific than one would think. He has quite a number of books out, not only young adult novels, but a few straight-ahead novels and at least one collection of short stories (Flamingoes in Orbit). He has around five or six plays that have been published, some of which are also for so-called young adults. For whatever reason, I've always in my mind grouped Ridley with people like Patrick McGrath and Ian McEwen (probably because I encountered all of them within a very short span of time.)

I've always had to go to England to pick up his books (with the notable exception of Flamigoes in Orbit)... but all that was primarily before ABE was around.

"Reflecting Skin" was my first encounter with the man, and remains one of my favourite films. "Darkly Noon", as has been mentioned, was a bit of a disappointment, and in no small way because the calibre of "Reflecting Skin" would lead one to expect something much, much more.

There are also two short films that I've never seen (has anybody here done so?), and the announced publication of a play of his, "Apocalyptica", which was even given an ISBN (this is several years back, now), but I've never ever ever been able to track it down. Does anybody have information on any of these?

-Gregory Scharpen