Shooting Down Pictures #906 (47): The Woman in the Window

[Oeconomist]

One thing over-looked in this commentary is how much within the film is in fact dream-like. The ending of the film is sometimes treated as a cop-out, yet it is well foreshadowed.

Now, if one accepts the claim that I just made, the question is then whether and how it can be reconciled with a notion of a destiny machine. Is Lang simply inconsistent? Is the machine only a feature of nightmares? Does it intrude from reality even into dreams (implying a general if unconscious awareness of it)?

[tk210west]

Prof. Shambu seems like a nice sensitive good-humored intelligent fellow, & I'll check out his website. But his earnest, rather pompous commentary on one of my favorite movies reminds me why I found Columbia's film grad school such a silly waste of time.(He even quotes uberauteurist critic Andrew Sarris, my most frequent prof.) This sort of academic analysis is all about getting published, getting tenure,& sounding erudite; it offers little help in actually appreciating & understanding the film.

[alsolikelife]

I appreciate the feedback - personally I don't find his observations pompous (if I did I wouldn't have asked him to collaborate on the video), and I deemed them anything less than helpful I wouldn't go through the time and trouble to produce this video. I honestly think that he offers a helpful way to consider the movie. Great criticism should provide a new window, if you well, to look at a movie with fresh eyes. Hope you find at least some of my other videos useful in that regard!

[tk210west]

Sorry I sounded so dismissive;that MFA program no doubt left a residue of bile that commentaries like this simply tap into.(But oh, that twaddle about how placing the camera in the bathroom before Robinson gets there suggests the Workings of Fate--as if zillions of directors, e.g.Spielberg, don't do exactly the same, & without any philosophical pretensions!) I just wanted to deter any naive film students from taking this sort of thing too seriously. I AM glad,at least, you like "The Go-Between"!

[Oeconomist]

@tk210west—

I got no sense that this commentary was an attempt by Professor Shambu to somehow fabricate self-significance.

And, while I can well understand that some people enjoy a film primarily on other bases, the notion that this sort of commentary adds no understanding, and cannot add any sort of enjoyment is unfortunate. It is as if you are only looking at the film projected into some subspace, and thus missing some of its dimensions.