"Cremaster 3" is a bold, vibrant, thought-provoking, if disturbing, film. In this respect, it recalls the psycholinguistic-immersed nature of another film, the (in)famous "Un Chien Andalou". However, in terms of pure filmic artistic revelations, the film is hardly anything new and its power comes from its subject matter and presentation of that content. Again, this is brings "Chien" to mind, as that films raw psychological energy catapulted itself at the viewer, not with abandon but with an intent of destruction. This is where "Cremaster 3" comes in. The film's cinematography is the masterful, colourful stroke of the brush onto that Barney uses in lieu of a canvas and paint. Like, "Chien", the movie has only this energy of the visual to contribute to the world of film, and film manipulation is far from the likes of true film pioneers like The Lumiere Brothers and Scorsese. However, there are many scenes in "Cremaster 3" that I would compare to the deadly "eye-slitting" scene in "Un Chien Andalou". The film delves into the masculine mind and, of course, sex to a degree as a consequence. "Chien" also had its thematic roots in the psychological, using sex and the inhibitions of everyday life on the modern man as a template for its odd imagery. "Cremaster 3" is the modern version of Salvadore Dali's 1929 screenplay - a groundbreaking artist made a film then and a groundbreaking artist makes a film now. Both have this in common, and both have the distinction of ambivalence that my film professor once told me about "Chien": either it all means something, or it all means nothing. "Cremaster 3" is brave, visceral and powerfully unsettling, and so was "Un Chien Andalou". It will be interesting to see what the scholars 80 years from now think of the Cremaster series and its contribution to the world of film.
Review of Cremaster 3
