Betcha never saw this one coming.

Yes, I have picked on Ozon in the past. And yes, to me anyway, he is still Catherine Breillat with a penis. (Imagine her envy.)

And other than Marina de Van, I had no other reason to actually view this DVD when it finally showed up after sitting in my queue for well over a year. (Typically half the titles in my queue are of this sort -- I actually have a copy of Ratcatcher coming my way after sitting in the queue at #1 for years. Yes, I used to have a copy, but someone "borrowed" it.)

Anyway, I remembered how absorbing Marina de Van was in In My Skin, which I know was discussed at a hefty length, but I guess it wasn't here because there's no discussion to be found. (sigh) Point being -- she was awesome in the one other film I'd seen her in, perhaps due to the rather grisly role, but she took that gruesomeness on so well that with her in the part it just went off the charts to a whole new level.

So I finally got a copy of See the Sea. Which is a 56(?) minute short by Ozon. And I was intrigued, to say the least. The length of the film is just in the spot where it's not really a short and it's not really releasable as a mainstream film. Interesting. And the DVD also had a copy of another Ozon short -- this one around 15 minutes -- called A Summer Dress, which might actually qualify as a "gay" film, a genre which I've never really watched too much of, but I probably wouldn't watch it anyway, I guess, depending on how good See the sea would turn out to be.

Yes my sentence structure is terrible, love me anyway.

Here's the kicker -- I've written Ozon off on many threads on this very board. I don't think I was alone in the process, either, but I know that I included him in a cast of directors who I just said "I'm done with her/him," having been an ignorant ass and only seen 20% of the films in said-director's oeuvre. (Don't do that. Only ignorant asses do that.)

[Sorry I know this will probably be the only post on these films so I might as well just vomit it all out and that way if anyone does try to look them up in the future they'll at least see this.]

See the Sea is just plain beautiful. And I really don't want to say too much more about it other than it reminded me of my first and second experience with Magnolia. You kind of get it the first time, and you kind of expect things to drift a certain direction and sour up a bit, but then all the sudden there are frogs all over the place and you're swerving and sliding in traffic and you just need to sit down and watch that beautiful mess all over again.

I would like to hear from anyone that would like to dive into See the sea though. There's a lot of psychology there, and I'd really like to hear from anyone who wants to help me describe what I saw.

So I really enjoyed an Ozon. Wow -- why not try another?

This little 15 minute number is one wild ride. It makes me love how a short film can make a jab at just one little point, and then get it over with so fast and you catch yourself thinking. And the biggest thing I thought, after all of the sex in the woods and full-mouth kissing gay sex on the washing machine, was -- who connected with who? and -- who had the most magical connection in the film and at what point did it happen? This is a rare short that builds and builds and builds into the quietest crescendo that just explodes in the heart. The ending of this short is simply perfect.

So this is just a little thread to have around to say that these Ozon shorts are well worth the time invested. And that I take back writing off Ozon, and that I vow to never be an ignorant ass at A&F again.

OK, I take that last part back.

I think that you will find a lot of things you like about See the Sea in Under the Sand, and I like the latter film better. Ozon just seems like a lascivious Shyamalan to me, all of his ironic turns shocking us with something unexpectedly erotic or violent. Wait for it, wait for it, wait... Look! They are doing something very intimate and taboo on camera! (Sitcom was reviled for this monotone sex shock vibe.) He seems to think his preoccupation with sex and gender is some sort of profound aesthetic directive, but it usually turns out to be a straightjacket - just like Breillat. And I get it. Ozon is homosexual, and he is interested in deconstructing the hetero nature of cinema. I simply have no stake in this.

Which is too bad, because the guy has incredible talent. See the Sea really is a well done film, like Rohmer on steriods. I may like it more than his others because it seems to be about something other than what Ozon is usually prattling on about. The menace of youth, the privilege of family, there is such a great tension between these two women.

I think that's why I really appreciated the two shorts so much, was that sure, it was Ozon doing his usual sex thing, which he really seems to enjoy. But in both of these, there was so much more going on than you really thought, and in the end it was like, "Oh, wow. That makes perfect sense, and while I kind of saw it coming, I didn't see it coming like this." Hence the Shyamalan comparison I guess.



Cool, well maybe I'll put it in my queue and give it a try sometime. I don't think we have a thread on Under the Sand, do we?


Straightjacket, yes. Great way to put it. Reminds me of why most of "Christian" film doesn't work for me either.