Fun stuff, deluxe.

Rating: 8/10 (9 July 2008)

People seem to approach this as being a horror movie. Well, I guess it's not. And certainly not in days where the genre has been fully occupied by more or less brain dead slasher flicks.
So to be perfectly clear, this movie is more or less typical Polanski style apartment suspense stuff, with the usual, well balanced mixture of paranoia and sarcasm. And as such it's outstandingly playful, entertaining and well crafted.
Most notable of course are the character portrayals, and those many special moments one immediately realizes were created not to drive the story, further the potential success of the movie or the fame of anybody involved, but to plainly create atmosphere and entertain us.
Just take the suicide sequence, the outfits in which Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer come strolling down the street and the following dialog about cleaning windows at night, all in face of a dead body. If I ever saw sarcasm working on screen, I'd say it was here.
And the shot of Gordon holding her spectacles up to further inspect that young women who might know more about the relations of the deceased than herself - this potentially being a threat of course. Clearly, this stuff borders on being cartoonish, but Polanski - and Gordon - truly walk the line here.
Also a favorite of mine, their first dinner and Farrow's looking back into the dining room while helping out in the kitchen - all just quiescence, only the tobacco smoke hinting at people sitting around the corner and maybe talking about what? Ample space for our fantasy to fill in, deliberately given to us.
Gordon's performance here as house invading, chit chatting ever inquisitive elderly lady is a blast anyway. To me, one of the most memorable captured on screen, ever. Very much notable also Cassavetes, extending the evasiveness of his character to almost avoiding the camera. Rarely seen amongst actors I'd say, and giving a nice opaqueness to his performance.
I could go on of course, likely for hours and without even mentioning classics like the phone booth sequence. To me, this, Chinatown and Le Locataire comprise Polanski's classic period, and are ample evidence of what a really exceptional Hollywood studio director he was and could further have been - if he hadn't blown it himself. Very regrettable, really.
Highly recommended, to the true film fan.