Images [Blu-ray]

" Citizen Kane " generally being the most well known example ; art house movies are the pinnicle all films aspire to. The director, also American, of this film is distinquished art house director Robert Altman. Ingmar Bergmans "Persona" influenced this + other Altman films. For me, as an antidote to Hollywood, it was revelatory first being initiatiated into the world of the art house film.

Damn great somewhat over-looked Robert Altman film. It feels like a kind of surreal sister-movie to his other leftfield 1970s masterpiece "3 Women". Like that one it's clearly a bit influenced by Ingmar Bergman's great "Persona"... and there's probably also some influence from Polanski's "Repulsion" in here. But it's also its own beast, particularly thanks to Susanna York's great performance and stunning cinematography by Vilmos Szigmond (known also from Altman's "McCabe & Mrs Miller" and Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"). Then there's a unique avantgarde score from the usually (too?) conservative John Williams, and eerie sound effects by the guy who did the sound design in "The Man Who Fell To Earth". The new Arrow blu-ray is gloriously restored, and has lots of extras. Highly recommended for adventurous viewers who like to LOOK at and LISTEN to movies.

Awesome

‘Images’ focuses on a schizophrenic women (Susannah York) whose hallucinations become deadly and blur the line between reality and imagination.This film’s atmosphere is excellent. It’s chilling, eerie right from the first scene. The technical aspects of this film are really top quality. The camerawork, editing and photography especially is perfectly executed by cinematographer Vilmos Zzigmond. The direction by Roger Altman is unique and is at times off kilter like the film’s narrative. However the score by John Williams and the random and often intrusive noises and sounds created by Stomu Yamtasha really elevate the film’s creepiness and strangeness to a new level.The performances are also good from the small cast. However the main focus is on Susannah York’s character, her performance is brilliant, whether she be laughing maniacally or delivering ear splitting screams she throws herself into the insanity of the character.However the actual story and character personalities are where the film’s negatives are. The basic plot motivation for York’s character and her husband take a trip to her childhood home so she can finish her book. However the actual progression and structure of the film is choppy and at times confusing (which I’m sure is intentional to reflect the characters mental state). However due to the rest of the characters being uninteresting the film does drag at times with overlong scenes, the ending I’m still honestly not 100% sure what happened but I guess it’s audience interpretation.Can definitely see why this has cult status and from an atmosphere and technical perspective I really liked it. However I can’t see myself returning to it anytime soon, will say it’s worth checking out though.

You may well ask yourself, as I did, several times while watching this, ‘What’s it all about?’ Don’t ask me. I was faintly reminded of the Vittorio De Sica film ‘After the Fox’ starring Peter Sellers as a bullion smuggler who conceals his crime by making a film about bullion smuggling. The smuggler’s resulting film bears a certain resemblance to ‘Images’. I exaggerate of course. But this is one totally baffling film. The only person who got anything out of it was Susannah York who won a gong and was nominated for several others for her superb delivery of madness. The cinematographer (Vilmos Szigmond) got a big nomination as did the composer, John Williams. And perhaps therein lies the truth about ‘Images’. It is a film dominated by craft and technical matters. Individually and separately the music, photography and lead performance are outstanding, and yet the whole seems curiously undirected. It’s almost as if the film wasn’t directed at all. Which it was, of course, and by none other than Robert Altman who had recently completed his masterpiece MASH, a film with the clear stamp of an all-controlling auteur. So watch this for the technical thrill, but don’t expect to be engaged at any kind of an emotional level. 4 stars.