Loss of humanity

Rating: Null/10 (11 May 2004)

One spoiler in my review.
Kubrick was said to have once instructed his actors to watch Lynch's 'Eraserhead' in order to be in the right mood for their performances in 'The Shining'. Aside from appropriately subdued actors, there is a more important directorial parallel between the late Kubrick and the present Lynch, that which the French call mise-en-scene.
The central accomplishment of this film is probably composition. It is unexpressed in the script; writers, producers and D.O.P.s aren't responsible for it. The 'putting-into-scene' involves the organization of props, people, music, light, and whatever the hell else you are imaginative enough to know is needed or superfluous.
I'm thinking in particular about the Camilla Rhodes audition: floor lights reflected off her cheekbones and missed the hollow of her eyes, deepening them as she swayed a little, singing a fifties pop ditty. In another instance, Watts' character, jealous lover that she is, watches Adam Kesher move in on her Latin girlfriend. The camera zooms in slowly, in a darkened studio, on a tiny light reflected in a pool of tears in her eye. 9/10