I want to think that in the last 20 years we have learned to value certain exercises that are out of the norm of authors usually marginalized at an industrial level. It amuses him to think that today certain works would be better valued, as if we had a more open mind and free of expectations with respect to those who saw it at the time.
However, the cynical part of my existence always considers that not even with these will they end up being appreciated certain jewels with brave bets that subvert what we assume as inevitable in certain movies. Therefore, despite the great effort of ‘The Power of the Dog’ to shed another light on Jane Campion and her career, it is possible that an undervalued piece like ‘raw‘ continue to be misunderstood.
deep cuts
It is difficult to have a more unfair reputation than that of this movie that can already be seen on Netflix, being declared a flop as an erotic thriller and destroying Meg Ryan’s career after many years of being America’s favorite actress. his only sin it was love It was to subvert, from the very figure of the actress, many established bases of crime and black cinema, whose shame is uncovered.
In the film, Ryan plays a university writing professor who lives alone in her New York apartment, inquiring about street language and life in the corners of the city. One day accidentally stumbles upon an erotic scene in a bar, and she can’t help but be mesmerized by the scene. Some time later, a police detective comes to her apartment, questioning her about a crime that happened in the area, and the man (played by Mark Ruffalo) will seem strangely familiar.
Elements that would make for an erotic thriller halfway between ‘Fatal Attraction‘ and ‘Basic Instinct’. Campion, perhaps aware of that expectation, totally defies that kind of movie turning around many of its elements, like those of noir. The woman, the femme fatale, is here the protagonist of the story, her desires are not subject to those of the hero and she must be the one to get out of the threatening situation that awaits her. The detective shows the most perverse side of him and the confidant is depraved.
‘In raw flesh’: the femme fatale takes the reins
Even an expected film noir location like the one we visit at the climax of the film (I won’t reveal which one) is reconsidered to distort those classic codes. Even its aesthetic, so naturalistic through the crude photography of Dion Beebe, is antithetical to that kind of film. Alterations that he performs with efficiency and intelligence, perfectly serving a story about female desire and the multiple ways in which it can be violated.
It’s a movie pretty much destined to be misunderstood, but equally refreshing in a very twisted way. It is a work that gains a lot when it is given the benefit of the doubt and Campion’s ability to get out of marked lines is taken into account, either by reconsidering the genres he decides to tackle, the complex characters he decides to explore or directly with a sense of the eccentric humor so New Zealand. There isn’t any of the latter in ‘En carne viva’, but she certainly knows how to break your waist and never give you the most complacent version of herself. Claimable to the extreme.
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