The
other alternative would be to completely separate these
two elements of the film, which would eliminate the need
for a clear transition as well as the use of black and white
vs. color, but it would lose the narrative quality that
the broken-up documentary provides. This could be easily
accomplished by putting together a brief and cohesive documentary
that chronicles Helmut’s life and artistic career
– including more detail on the two young men who supposedly
committed suicide after working as Helmut’s models.
This documentary would provide enough background for the
audience so that they weren’t left wondering what
was going on for the rest of the film. There could even
be a nice transition between the two areas by using a shot
of the television and having Lloyd turn it off in disgust.
This could possibly be the factor which motivates him to
go and have his sit-down with Helmut, which in turns leads
to Ken’s seduction by the artist. Either way, something
ought to be adjusted about the editing.
Finally,
the character of Lloyd seemed a little strange to me. He
behaves like a fundamentalist – carrying a Bible around,
using very Evangelical language, and organizing the Fred
Phelps-esque protests. Even the name of his foundation –
Christ Spilled His Blood For Me – sounds very fundamentalist.
And yet, he has many crucifixes and pictures of the Sacred
Heart in his house – distinctly Catholic elements
that a fundamentalist would never own – and at one
point he is even pictured flagellating himself with a homemade
whip. Once again, this is definitely not a Protestant practice,
but is still done by some devout Catholics. (This also seemed
to be copying from The DaVinci Code a little too much; the
actor portraying Lloyd even looks a little bit like the
character of Silas the Opus Dei “monk.”) In
any case, it seems as though the filmmakers were just trying
to make this character into the consummate “religious
nut,” and so incorporated all aspects of religiosity
that they could find. And while this isn’t a big deal,
it still may appear confusing to anyone of either Catholic
or Protestant persuasion who watches this film.
He
has drawn
praise from art critics...
...And
condemnation
from psychologists.
Visual
Look
For
a documentary-style film, Disturbing Images starts
rather suddenly. It cuts in quickly and zooms in on Helmut
K, lounging on a couch in front of an interviewer with a
boom mike dangling over his head. This is rather a jarring
opening, especially for what should be a very smooth TV
documentary. While I do like how the film begins with Helmut
discussing his bizarre outlook on life, I think this particular
aspect needs to be tweaked a little bit to make a smoother
beginning. Perhaps by using the narrator in a Bill Curtis/American
Justice-type of introduction, and then adding a clip of
Helmut before going to the opening credit montage. (This
particular montage was very clever, I thought. The music
sounded like TV show theme music, and the credits were compiled
together with a very cool-looking photo/video montage, so
it also really fit the documentary theme.)
I didn’t
notice any major white balance or lighting issues, except
for one or two shots with minor washout, and a couple shots
where the lighting was a bit too low. There were also a
few “dirty lens” shots where the light reflected
off the lens in such a way that dirt spots can be seen.
Though this can’t really be fixed in post, it can
be corrected by a quick re-edit.
Finally,
one of the things that I found interesting was Helmut’s
makeup job. His pale skin, combined with his dark eyes and
lips, in addition to his facial structure itself really
make him look like a silent movie actor from the twenties.
Though considering his eccentricities as an artist, this
unusual look seems to be more of an asset to his character
than anything else.
