Some movies don’t just “stick with you.” They insinuate themselves into your bloodstream, they become a part of you, they imprint themselves on you. Or in you. You can’t shake them. You are – quite literally – haunted. Don’t Look Now – a movie about what it feels like to be haunted – was that kind of movie for me. I wrote a little bit about it here. I came out of Don’t Look Now altered. I know I am not alone in this. It has been observed that Roeg’s style is so strong – so unique – that it can’t be imitated. Or, people have tried to imitate it, tried to do what he does … but they can’t, because they are not him. They don’t put things together the way he does, they don’t have his point of view. How did he see the world? You can point to his films. There it is. Other films – like Walkabout, Performance, The Man Who Fell to Earth – created equally sui generis impressions. My pal Glenn Kenny’s post on Nicolas Roeg is well worth a read. And Matt Zoller Seitz’s tribute is also great.
