Mesmerizing (The Eyes Of Laura Mars (DVD))

Member Name: buff1635

Product:	The Eyes Of Laura Mars (DVD)
Date:	14/11/03 (30 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent acting/casting, Superb film-making technique, Gripping storyline

Disadvantages: -, -, -

"Eyes Of Laura Mars" was released in 1978 with a classy looking, three-tone publicity poster. Looking at it, you would not know exactly what to expect from the movie. This sure was part of the attraction.

How fitting that Faye Dunaway should interpret the role of Joan Crawford a couple of years later in "Mommie Dearest": "Eyes Of Laura Mars" is indeed a sort of up-do-date 'woman's picture' for the Seventies, the kind of stuff you would get from Crawford in the Forties (say, Curtis Berhardt's "Possessed").

True to the 'woman's picture' genre, this murder mystery melodrama adopted (in a literal way) the point of view of its heroine. It framed it in lavish production values: the sublime costumes by Theoni V. Aldredge and the rich, deep-toned cinematography by Victor J. Kemper are standouts. Somehow, Kershner and Kemper manage to make darkness and morbidity totally tangible while shooting the vast majority of the sequences in plain daylight, without expressionistic camera angles and lighting. It works because of the color palette - 'black', in this movie, is a real color; the low-key scenes seem always natural and never the result of fancy, post-modernist 'noir' lighting techniques.

Back in 1978 you certainly would go and see "Eyes Of Laura Mars" for Dunaway - a total icon. You would get slightly disappointed by the staging of the murders, which did seem a bit goofy. You would not dream that 25 years later it would become a true time-capsule experience, but it has, thanks to the massive use of on-location shooting and the disco soundtrack. It is a technically superb piece of film-making: check out the whole Tommy-Lee Jones/Brad Dourif confrontation/pursuit scene in the third act, and simply wish they would still make 'em like that.

The DVD has a picture portfolio, a behind the scenes featurette and an interesting commentary by Kershner
. The man is a genius.

Summary: