Black Moon

                      

Louis Malle's Black Moon, from 1975, is the most misbegotten film I've seen in some time. A surreal meditation on feminism, war, androgyny, nature and whatever flotsam and jetsam that was floating around in Malle's mind at the time, its primary value lies in being a superb sleep aid. I am a big fan of surrealism and Alice in Wonderland (Black Moon's main influence), but Malle's rational humanism seems at odds with the material; unlike Borowczyk's similarly psycho-sexual film, The Beast. Malle is ill at ease displaying the unconscious.

Shot at Malle's country estate, the film resembles a wigged out home movie, albeit with Sven Nyquist behind the lens. Cathryn Harrison simpers ineffectually as the lead. Joe Dallesandro and Alexandra Stewart are nice eye candy. A good example of latent 60s brain damage. (9/2/16)


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