a review of 夺魂索

MANNVANUARY THREE, #6: After years of hearing about the "queer subtext" in this movie, it was kind of hilarious to finally see it and realize that it's absolutely text. I'm not sure how anybody watching this back in the day managed to interpret the murderers as anything other than a gay couple, but I guess there were also folks back then who were convinced that Liberace was straight. Although it's tempting to think of ROPE's "real-time/single-take" premise as a mere stylistic gimmick -- and if you know when to look for the cuts between reels, somewhat transparent -- it does have an actual narrative function within the film. Forcing the film's characters to exist in entirely in present-tense, with no cutaways or edits to elide the space between onscreen actions, effectively puts us in the cage along with them, waiting for the inevitable moment of discovery.