That Certain Look of… Isolation

Posted by Greg Ferrara on September 21, 2011

A movie can provide a wealth of riches to a movie lover, from pointed social commentary and profound character development to thrilling adventure and terrifying horror. The movies provide so much that, sometimes, it’s hard to point to just one thing that stands out above all else. When a cinephile watches something like Citizen Kane, there seems to be an endless supply of greatness on which to elaborate, from the acting, cinematography and editing to the music, story structure and dialogue. And when I watch a movie like Kane, I take it all in and feel refreshed and invigorated when I’m done. But sometimes, depending on my mood, all I’m really looking for is one thing and one thing only: A look. And when a movie has that certain look, it’s all I need.

When I was a kid, my γιαγιά (that’s Greek for “grandmother” – I’m Greek-Italian, or as I like to say, Greco-Roman) used to watch golf on television. She never learned to speak English so daytime dramas and primetime sitcoms held little appeal for her. But golf she liked. She liked it because of how it looked. It was always nice weather, the grass was picture-perfect green and beautifully trimmed. Nothing moved too fast and everyone was quiet. Even the announcers whispered. And even though I was only a kid, I understood it exactly because I was already doing the same thing with Saturday morning cartoons.

Most kids growing up on Saturday morning cartoons had their personal favorites and, like most, I enjoyed watching the Warner Brothers Bugs Bunny shorts from the forties and fifties (although, at the time, I had no idea they were once theatrical shorts, I thought they were made for Saturday morning). While I liked Bugs just fine, the one I liked watching the most was Road Runner. Bugs was better, far better, but Road Runner had that environment: Quiet, removed, desolate. I really liked that. I didn’t care much for the actual Road Runner/Coyote gags, I just liked that look. That quiet, stark look. And I was only seven!

Later, when movies took over practically every aspect of my existence, I started mentally collecting movies that had a look that made me feel good, safe, contented. It wasn’t always stark and desolate but it did always have a feeling of isolation, even if there were plenty of people around. Oddly enough, judging from the early attraction to the Road Runner’s desert locales, the westerns of John Ford didn’t give me that same sense. They certainly fulfilled all of my cinephile needs as so many of them are masterpieces but not my “certain look” needs. Perhaps there was too much energy going on within the films to get that feeling. It’s there, a little bit, in The Searchers but only in the all-too brief winter scenes. But mainly, it’s because I didn’t want the desert-sun-shining-feeling at all. I wanted the isolation, yes, but mixed in with grey clouds and damp weather. It’s just that, at seven, the Road Runner was the best I could do; it gave me the isolation but not the right weather. Which is why if I had to point to a western that gives me that feeling in spades, it’s Shane. The look of Shane relaxes me. It comforts me. It feels removed from the rest of the world and the character of Shane, himself, feels removed from the rest of the world as well. It’s as if that small settlement exists in another universe and despite all the bad things happening there, feels good. Quiet, isolated, removed.

Other movies give me small glimpses of that even if it has little to do with the movie itself. For instance, in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, the Grim Reaper visits a couple hosting a dinner party (possibly my favorite segment of the movie) but what really catches my eye in that scene is the cottage they live in, secluded, private and mist-covered. Here it is:

Deathtrap, done around the same time, also has an isolated house, this time a converted windmill. When I see it, and its autumn grey skies and bare trees I think, “I could spend a lot of time there just thinking.”

And speaking of windmills, there’s the scene in Foreign Correspondent where Joel McCrea, George Sanders and Laraine Day give chase to the international conspirators/assassins only to end up here:

But before we start thinking this is all about cottages and windmills, I should reiterate that what appeals to me, more than anything else about these, is the sense of isolation. The structures could be factories for all I care. It’s not about the look of the houses or windmills although, admittedly, they look great. It’s about the eerie, creeping sense of other-worldliness they all possess.

There are plenty of other movies that give me the same sensation with wildly different storylines and plots. Two personal favorites would be The Wicker Man (1973) and Stroszek (pictured at the top of the post). Both of those movies have the same elements that I keeping coming back to again and again: A dreary, grey feeling of being alone. Maybe it’s the seasonal depression I suffer (which has caused some problems in the past) that somehow draws me into something most people would agree I should avoid. But I can’t. It is, in some strange way, exactly what I want.

For a case in point, the ultimate “Greg-Ferrara-I-Just-Love-Watching-This” movie, I give you Nicolas Roeg’s psychological study, Don’t Look Now. Roeg is a master of isolation, seclusion and other-worldliness. Other exemplary examples of him taking a time and place and creating a unique and isolated environment include Walkabout and The Man Who Fell to Earth. I also like the feel of Bad Timing (probably the only one who does) and even The Witches, at its blustery English resort, feels secluded and remote. But Don’t Look Now is my favorite.

A while ago, fellow Morlock Richard Harland Smith asked The Horror Dads, of which I’m a member, to link themselves to a film character and write about the connection. I chose John Baxter from Don’t Look Now (played by Donald Sutherland). I do feel a connection to him but perhaps more than anything else, I envy him. Oh, not his personal life, of course. I would never envy such loss and grief. But his work life, going to Venice, spending his days restoring an old and beautiful church and walking around the canals under drizzly, grey skies. This film captures the feeling of being apart from the rest of the world so well that I want to inhabit it. I’ve never been to Venice but one day, if my wife and I get to go (she’s already been, lucky lady), I don’t want to go unless it’s late fall and the whole place is damp, drizzly and a little cold. That’s how I want to see Venice because that’s how it is in Don’t Look Now and that’s the world I want to live in. And not just the secluded streets but the interiors, too. I’d love to have a drink and a bite to eat with my lovely wife inside the restaurant that John and Laura (Julie Christie) have their lunch (minus, of course, bizarre psychic women freaking out my wife).

Looking back, it all seems so reasonable now, so sensible. I’ve always enjoyed being in my own thoughts more than hanging around a lot of people, especially at some kind of group gathering where small talk is the order of the day. All the films mentioned above provide me with an atmosphere that allows me to escape into my own thoughts and I can watch all of them just to watch them. Just to feel their presence creep into my soul, wrap themselves around my thoughts and let me know there are other worlds out there, where quiet and solitude are cherished prizes waiting to be embraced.

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45 Responses That Certain Look of… Isolation

Posted By Jim Vecchio : September 21, 2011 9:42 am

I loved this Blog! Your descriptions of these other-worldly environments leads me to reccommend the Independent Film “The Trip” starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. There are many scenes of isolated landscapes and there is one particularly great scene where the character drives the other character crazy talking about the geological features of the landscape. Then, the loudmouth climbs to the top of the mountain and discovers a truly unique, other-worldly landscape. Unfortunately, there is a man there in the middle of nowhere who is even more annoyting than him!

The best use of landscape in many years, I feel, was in “Local Hero”. Contrasts between busy city and equisite isolated landscapes and a constant reference to the sea and the sky are themes. To illustrate this contrast, two of the characters are named Marina (the sea) and Stella (stellar). Anyone who views this movie will remember it as a favorite!

Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 21, 2011 10:05 am

Jim, I have so many more movies that I didn’t list here and you’ve hit squarely on one of them: Local Hero. I can watch that again and again (and have) just for the feel and look of it. Not even sure at this point how many times I’ve seen it but I could watch it again right now (and have the DVD ready if I need to).

Along the same lines, I’ve also loved Michael Powell’s The Edge of the World from the moment I first saw it.

I haven’t seen The Trip yet but it’s high on my list of movies to see if only because of the famous Michael Caine clip all over YouTube.

Posted By Jim Vecchio : September 21, 2011 10:24 am

thanks for the quick reply. I am so glad you feel the same way about LOCAL HERO. I am fortunate enough to have a membership in THE AVON THEATER in Stamford, CT. They show classic, independent, and cult films with many special offerings. Recently, they ahd a NY Times Critic who showed and moderated LOCAL HERO, and it had a tremendous reception. Too bad such creative efforts go largely unrewarded. I’m also thankful i saw THE TRIP there, too. I had seen so many promos I almost didn’t go to see it, as I felt I already had, but the movie still has a lot going for it and, though it is a trite saying, I felt like turning around at the end and going back to see it again! I sure miss the days of “Continuous Showings”.

Posted By Tom S : September 21, 2011 10:39 am

I’m assuming that if you’ve seen the Edge of the World, you’ve seen Powell and Pressburger’s A Canterbury Tale? The landscape there isn’t quite the one you’re describing, but it certainly has a connection to the land itself and what it represents like few other movies I’ve seen.

I also would imagine that Paris, Texas and Lawrence of Arabia would hold a lot of appeal for you.

Posted By Jim Vecchio : September 21, 2011 10:54 am

As to the latter, very much so! Due to my…isolation…I’m ashamed to admit I’ve missed the first two, but will soon make up for it!
The first time I thought seriously about landscape in a movie was, of course, with John Ford. I’ve told this to another “friend”, but, due to absolutely nothing on my part, I found myself on the Dean’s List in College in the seventies. Being an “honor student” afforded me the privilege of choosing amongst a wide array of courses. One was entitled “Western Film”. That sounded like fun to me, so I took it, never realizing the appreciation I would gain or that this would be the start of a lifelong collection. I learned so much about landscape and atmosphere that it really impresses me when, in magic moments, they become the “star” of the show. Of course, there are movies in which these things would just get in the way of the story that has to be told and there are also those features such as most of Mel Brooke’s offerings that use these in a noonsensical way, as well!

Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 21, 2011 11:06 am

Too bad such creative efforts go largely unrewarded

That’s pretty much the case with all Bill Forsyth efforts. A particular favorite is Comfort and Joy, still not released on DVD. Finally, Forsyth gave up and stopped making movies because he felt it wasn’t worth it anymore.

Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 21, 2011 11:11 am

Tom – I’ve seen that and most Powell/Pressberger films and I’ve got to say, they’ve made some of my favorite films. Black Narcissus and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp are all-time faves.

Paris, Texas is a movie that, oddly enough, I just brought up to my wife last week (she hasn’t seen it) for its stark beauty.

And I once wrote a piece about loving half of a movie (years ago) and Lawrence of Arabia was one of them. It’s not that I don’t like the whole movie, but the first half has a hypnotic feel to it while the second half gets down to the nitty-gritty of the politics and characters. I love the first half, obviously. The second half? Eh, I like it but not nearly as much.

Posted By dukeroberts : September 21, 2011 11:13 am

If it is a feeling of isolation you desire, look no further than Robinson Crusoe on Mars. It showed varying climates.

I recently saw A Canterbury Tale and I could lie forever in the grassy hills overlooking the Pilgrim’s Road.

Posted By Tom S : September 21, 2011 11:21 am

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a bad Powell/Pressburger effort, though I think Jack Cardiff and technicolor pushed them into something almost transcendental- I love A Canterbury Tale, I Know Where I’m Going, The Small Back Room and so forth, but The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, and The Tales of Hoffman are somehow among the wildest movies I’ve ever seen while simultaneously being restrained in a uniquely English way. A Matter of Life and Death is an interesting one there, because it sort of splits the difference.

Lawrence of Arabia is my favorite movie (though admittedly that’s as much for how I saw it as it is for the film itself) so I can’t really accept criticism of it in any way, though its relationship to colonialism is tricky at best. I think the relationship of the two halves is one of my favorite parts- it functions a bit like Godfathers 1 and 2, setting up something almost mythological and then taking it apart in detail.

Paris, Texas is weirdly a movie that came to mind when watching Drive last Saturday- they’re totally unlike one another in some ways, but both are hugely internal and focused on the almost impassive face of a man who’s not wholly able to get in sync with the rest of the world. Also, both have a strange and sort of desolate beauty, regardless of how many people are actually there.

Jim- it’s funny, with Westerns, that I always associate them with that John Ford quality of being open and full of landscape and framed against the horizon kind of thing- if you watch some of the other classics, like Rio Bravo, I don’t think there’s any location shooting there at all, and you spend almost the whole time curled up in tiny jail or a hotel room. Even Leone’s first couple of Westerns took place largely in towns, on sets that had been made- it’s not really until you get to the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly that you really get the feeling of a vast landscape without many people in it.

Posted By Jim Vecchio : September 21, 2011 11:22 am

Thanks, Greg, for mentioning another favorite, COMFORT AND JOY! Bill Forsythe is a great talent, and I wish there was more of a market for his films so we could see more of his genius!

Posted By Tom S : September 21, 2011 11:23 am

Robinson Crusoe on Mars is such an unexpectedly smart movie- it sounds like a setup for either the silliest kind of zapgun pulp or some kind of horrible and fairly boring man-imposes-his-will parable (like the actual book Robinson Crusoe), but somehow it finds a balance between them and works out to being a clever and meditative movie that still has room for big adventure sequences. Plus, instead of the Robinson figure essentially taking the Friday figure as a slave and dismissing his people as savage cannibals, there’s at least a little bit of back and forth between the two of them, each learning from the other and getting a sense that there’s a world beyond. It’s not much, but I appreciated it.

Posted By Jim Vecchio : September 21, 2011 11:24 am

I recall when I was in college (where many wonderful things happened!) that I was in a…restaurant…with a friend and LAWRENCE OF ARABIA was on the tv-Not only did the smallness of the screen change my perception of the film, but adding to the surreal quality was that every time we turned to gaze out the window, we were in the midst of a raging blizzard!

Posted By Jim Vecchio : September 21, 2011 11:26 am

I have Jerry Lewis to thank for my seeing ROBINSON CRUESOE ON MARS. It was the second half of a double-bill with Jerry’s being the main feature. No need to tell you which one was better!

Posted By Tom S : September 21, 2011 11:27 am

I have the DVD of Lawrence, but I’ve only been able to bring myself to watch it once- I have a projector now, which is better than a TV, but it’s a movie that needs so badly to be seen in a theater that watching anywhere else seems almost like an insult.

I’ve never been able to make myself watch my copy of Apocalypse Now for a similar reason- that movie needs a truly powerful sound system even more than it needs a huge screen, or it’s not the same work at all.

Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 21, 2011 11:30 am

Duke, I’ve always liked Robinson Crusoe on Mars going back to the first time I saw it, on tv, back in the eighties. I went into thinking, “What the hell? Crusoe? Mars?” and then really liked it.

Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 21, 2011 11:35 am

Tom – Your comparison of the two halves of Arabia to the Godfather movies is an apt one. I think the movie itself is quite brilliant, but the first half really bowls me over and, as such, the second half always leaves me a little disappointed. And, really, that’s not a criticism of the movie so much of a testament to how much I love the first half. So much, that even in a movie as great as this, I’m disappointed by what comes after.

Agreed on watching it on tv as well. It’s a grandly visual film and deserves a big screen viewing whenever possible.

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a bad Powell/Pressburger effort

I can only think of Powell/Pressburger movies I don’t like as much as Blimp or Narcissus but none I think aren’t good.

Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 21, 2011 11:39 am

Jim and Tom – Another western that does it for me with atmosphere and mood is McCabe & Mrs. Miller. Dingy, dirty, foggy and cold.

Posted By Jim Vecchio : September 21, 2011 11:52 am

Wow! I could go at this all day! What great memories! Not to leave out the lowly B-pics: the unintentionally funny NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST which showed the characters navigating mountainous terrain in Florida.

Posted By dukeroberts : September 21, 2011 11:52 am

Robinson Crusoe On Mars was so much better than I expected it to be. It wasn’t nearly as cheesy. I hoped that the forthcoming John Carter movie would take something from it, but they just shot the movie in Arizona so that Mars looks like plain old Arizona, not fantasy-filled Mars.

Watching Lawrence of Arabia or Apocalypse Now at home does little justice to the overall experience, but they are such great movies that they must be viewed on occasion from home to get at least a hint of the greatness within. “Ride of the Valkyries” is quite amazing blaring from serious speakers though.

Posted By Tom S : September 21, 2011 11:54 am

Have you ever seen For All Mankind, Greg? It’s nonfiction, and basically just edited together shots from various space missions- but the way it’s edited, the rarity of the footage, and the Brian Eno music it’s scored to work together to make you fall in love with the Earth itself in a way I’ve never had happen outside of an Attenborough documentary.

Posted By dukeroberts : September 21, 2011 11:55 am

Mountainous terrain in Florida? Please tell me where that might be. There are a few hills in the western part of the state, but they are not much bigger than the sand dunes on the coasts.

Posted By Tom S : September 21, 2011 11:56 am

Duke, you mentioned wanting to just hang out on the hill near Canterbury- I think I want to do that too, but in black and white. It’s funny how some landscapes look much more interesting that way- a movie like Dead Man manages to make the gorgeous forests of the Pacific Northwest into an existential nightmarescape that way.

Posted By dukeroberts : September 21, 2011 11:59 am

Tom, how about that castle in I Know Where I’m Going, right near the seaside? Would it be as interesting in color? Would it have the same sense of foreboding isolation if shot in Technicolor?

Posted By Jim Vecchio : September 21, 2011 12:00 pm

This is getting a little confused and complicated, so let me make it clear this is for dukeroberts. Actually, they are just hills, but it seems very atypical for Florida. It’s funny that this stuck in my imnd. Maybe because I was feeling silly last night and watched ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES where they purposely did things like show footage of San Francisco was the descriptive of “New York”. ‘

Posted By Tom S : September 21, 2011 12:02 pm

Haha, not if Jack Cardiff shot it. Sometimes muted or oversaturated color can seem even more black and white than black and black does- Taxi Driver, for instance- but Cardiff’s colors are always so gorgeous and exciting that I feel like I’m watching Robin Hood and I just want to move to whatever world it is. Black Narcissus keeps seeming like it’s going to explode, it’s so colorful.

Posted By dukeroberts : September 21, 2011 12:04 pm

Jim- There are some hills out near Tallahassee and the surrounding area, but you’re right, hills are not common here. It’s sad. I prefer hills and mountains to beaches. Beaches aren’t nearly as peaceful and isolated. There, I brought it back around.

Posted By dukeroberts : September 21, 2011 12:05 pm

Black Narcissus is amazing. His Oscar was well deserved.

Posted By Tom S : September 21, 2011 12:07 pm

I dunno, if you go down to the Keys you can still find some nice isolated stretches- particularly if you go at around six in the morning, when it’s about as cold as it gets, on one of the sugar sand beaches. I think it’s almost never cold enough in Florida to feel England-style desolate, and you can’t get the Lawrence style desert isolation at the beach (obviously).

Posted By Jim Vecchio : September 21, 2011 12:27 pm

Sorry if I threw everyone off on a tangent! Let me please say that another favorite of mine is KING OF MARVIN GARDENS. The atmosphere of Atlantic City off-season is presented effectively, along with some visual puns, such as Jack Nicholson and his brother in the film, Bruce Dern, in one scene addressing one another on the beach in opposing black and white horses.

Posted By dukeroberts : September 21, 2011 12:34 pm

We had a nice, cold winter this winter past. An early morning in the Keys with a winter like the one past could fill in nicely, I suppose.

Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 21, 2011 1:34 pm

Have you ever seen For All Mankind, Greg?

Seen it, own it. I’m a science/astronomy fanatic. How fanatical? I have an old DVD of just unedited shots of earth from the space shuttle. Talk about a calming feeling.

Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 21, 2011 1:37 pm

Black Narcissus keeps seeming like it’s going to explode, it’s so colorful.

Powell focused on color so much in his films, especially there. The scene where Ruth puts on her makeup is diabolical. Everything is heightened and intensified. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen makeup being applied come off as sinister.

Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 21, 2011 1:38 pm

Another one I love (reviewed at my place a few months back): Atlantic City (just thought of it reading Jim’s Marvin Gardens comment).

Posted By Jenni : September 21, 2011 1:52 pm

A movie with lots of scenes of the land, and it’s more like a documentary within a movie is The Edge of the World, starring a young Niall McGinnis. The scenery of this Shetland Island, the wind and sea and crags and moutain-like, rocky coastline, would probably fit the bill of your post. Also, a John Ford film with the desert prominantly featured is The Three Godfathers. Lastly, I watched the Australian flick Picnic at Hanging Rock, which has an outdoor setting that I found unusual,beautiful, and eery, all at the same time. Not a film with cloudy skies, but definitely an atmosphere!

Posted By dukeroberts : September 21, 2011 1:57 pm

I love the shot of Ruth as she is walking out the door of the convent to the bell, backlit in red as if she is the spawn of Satan or something. I rewound the scene and still framed it for a second. That’s how awesome that shot is. And her eyes seem to be glowing. Sorry. That’s off topic.

Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 21, 2011 1:59 pm

Jenni, see my comment at the top of the thread (second comment). I love Edge of the World. It’s always held a great appeal for me. And I love Picnic at Hanging Rock too. Weir definitely creates a strange, alien landscape out of normally beautiful and inviting setting.

Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 21, 2011 2:01 pm

Duke – Not really off topic. I just put up a comment a little while ago about her putting on lipstick. And no kidding, when she opens that door, intent of pushing Deborah Kerr off the cliff, she looks like pure evil. Truly stunning visual work.

Posted By Jim Vecchio : September 21, 2011 2:41 pm

Loved PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK! Not sure what I saw, but I loved it! Recently, THE AVON showed a presentation of IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE in the original 1953 3D. The desert, in particular, the Joshua trees, painted an eerie atmosphere. Richard Carlso, the star, must’ve noted that because later on he directed RIDERS TO THE STARS and he opened with a similar Joshua tree shot, though it was of no importance to the film.

Posted By Christopher : September 21, 2011 5:38 pm

having lived in Oklahoma and having been thru Sallisaw (home of the Joads)many a time..THe scene in The Grapes of Wrath near the beginning where Tom Joad,fresh out of the Pen,and the Preacher Casy amble on thru the fields,stopping off a Muley’s haunted shack on the way to the folks’s,is a bit of “look’ that does it for me.Even tho its all on a set,it looks just like the back country in those parts on a cloudy day.

Posted By Brian : September 21, 2011 6:14 pm

For me it was Tender Mercies. Some of the shots with Robert Duvall and Tess Harper really had a sense of isolation…stark flat landscapes that seemed to go on forever.

Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 21, 2011 9:38 pm

Love Tender Mercies. Bruce Beresford does a great job and in Breaker Morant of creating a disquieting beauty from the landscape.

“I don’t trust happiness. Never have.”

Posted By Jim Vecchio : September 22, 2011 10:24 am

One more comment, please. We’ve been talking about films of the past. Here is a bit about an UPCOMING film. As I said, I have a membership in the great AVON THEATER in Stamford, CT. They just sent me the following descriptive of the upcoming film: MY AFTERNOONS WITH MARGHERITTE: “This week the Avon is pleased to present the charming and lovely new film MY AFTERNOONS WITH MARGUERITTE, starring Gérard Depardieu. The Los Angeles Times proclaims “this little gem is all about the nature of chance encounters and how they can change us in unexpected ways,” the Hollywood Reporter calls it “an appealing coming of middle age comedy,” while the NY Daily News notes “by the time the film ends, you’ll honestly believe you’ve just spent a languid afternoon in a lovely coastal village, and with excellent company.” Sounds like lanscape plays a unique part here!

Posted By Film Friday Weekly Roundup « Pretty Clever Films : September 23, 2011 10:30 am

[...] Check out this lovely piece from Greg Ferrara at Movie Morlocks on the visual aesthetics of the films he loves the most, “That Certain Look of… Isolation” [...]

Posted By bill r. : September 23, 2011 11:27 pm

Very Arbogastian, Greg, which I think you know is very high praise indeed.

Posted By Greg Ferrara : September 24, 2011 12:28 am

Bill, thank you for your generosity of praise. Very Cozzalian of you.

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