Part of Hoop-Tober

“What if she gets better?” “Don’t worry, she won’t get better.”

Nature, it is said, abhors a vacuum. If my cat’s reaction to my Dyson is any indication, this axiom is unimpeachably true. The maxim is usually attributed to Aristotle (in the appealingly macabre form of “horror vacui”), who believed that any theoretical void would be filled by surrounding material, instantly wiping it out. Nothing—the absence of something—cannot really exist, for something will always take nothing’s place.

This ancient principle underlies Roman Polanski’s The Tenant, the third and final entry in his so-called “Apartment Trilogy” (after Repulsion and Rosemary’s Baby). Each of the trilogy's films brilliantly explores the disadvantages and incipient paranoia of close-quarters city dwelling (paranoia…

This was an interesting movie but it was also a bit too slow and many scenes dragged or felt pointless.
The story was great but it just took a long time for it to really get going. When it finally got going it was weird and creepy, while keeping us guessing whether the neighbors are crazy or if it is all inside his head. 
The acting was great and so was the characters they were playing. They had a good chemistry and were believable in their roles. 
The cinematography was good too and only got better near the ending where shit really started to get crazy. 
It is a shame that the movie was so long and slow, since it…

"Tell me—at what precise moment does an individual stop being who he thinks he is?"

The concluding installment of Roman Polanski's unofficial "Apartment trilogy" is The Tenant, a housebound, Parisian-set paranoid thriller that borrows liberally from the two preceding entries.

The scenario follows and—to a certain extent—assumes the perspective of Trelkovsky (Polanski), a timid French immigrant of Polish extraction who acquires a coveted flat following the prior occupant's dramatic suicide attempt. Perhaps urged by a sense of compunction, he visits the terminal renter in the hospital—there incidentally encountering his sometime love interest Stella (Isabelle Adjani). From this point on Trelkovsky falls not very gradually into a state of paranoid psychosis, wherein he is convinced of a widespread conspiracy to transform…

Roman Polanski directs, co-writes and stars in his eccentric identity exercise The Tenant, which unreliably chronicles the mental collapse of Polanski’s Trelkovsky, an uneasy apartment-hunter who secures his abode at the expense of a woman’s death. After her untimely suicide, he is plagued by a series of increasingly uncanny encounters with his new neighbors and those close to the deceased, until the sinister atmosphere develops an outright chokehold on Trelkovsky and the audience alike.

Polanski effectively creates tension by suspending and diverting action, punctuating scenes with the spectral and unknown, and confounding the viewer’s faith in both Trelkovsky and his perceived nemeses. The construction of smothering paranoia is Polanski’s trademark from what I’ve seen so far, and although The Tenant…

Roman Polanski's The Tenant builds a myriad of psychological layers around the director cast in the role of Trelkovsky. It is a film often grouped together with Rosemary's Baby and Repulsion under the 'apartment trilogy' banner although this film develops into far more mysterious and complicated film than the other two.

His decision to cast himself as the films protagonist is an odd one given his lack of prominence infront of the lens previously. Only twelve months later he would face a life defining moment with accusations of rape reshaping his artistic approach. As such it is suggested that The Tenant is heavily autobiographical.

Polanski makes it crystal clear that this timid newcomer to the building is struggling to remain…

The final installment of Polanski's 'apartment trilogy' is the least well-known of the three, coming almost a decade after Rosemary delivered her satanic spawn. It's slipped through the cracks somewhat, having only had one DVD release this side of the pond and never made it onto blu ray (there is a Region A Shout Factory release). The Tenant draws on themes from both its predecessors - the conspiratorial paranoia of Rosemary's Baby and the reality-destabilizing slide into insanity of Repulsion - but it's very much it's own thing. There's a nightmarish, Kafkaesque quality to the dimly lit claustrophobia of the apartment setting and a vein of perverse black humour running throughout, the first hints of which appeared in Rosemary's Baby,…

Cognitively sound yet inconsistent, Polanski’s last film made on American money achieves its agenda through sheer technique if not anything else, the dynamic shots and rousing score easily rivalling any of his more celebrated works. Unfortunately, this is a clear-cut case of too much ‘show’ and too little ‘tell’, as if every scene is a vehicle to show Polanski’s capability in front of and behind the camera. There are definitely scenes in which his acting talent can be admired, but the script seems to be crammed with badly written, embarrassing moments, which doesn’t help the fact you’re forced to watch a notorious sex-offender strut about as if he’s Orson Welles for 2+ hours. Additionally, the film pairs cross-dressing with psychosis…

2020: pandemia mundial e a estética do confinamento

2020 mudou a todos nós... É até contraditório de se pensar que na era da informática e das redes sociais, quando nunca antes pudemos estar mais conectados, pra além de (quase) quaisquer fronteiras, tenhamos sido quarentenados fisicamente dentro de nossas próprias casas por uma pandemia global. Isso porque o comportamento social diante da virtualização massiva já vinha ficando cada vez mais sedentário e ocioso desde antes da covid-19, e talvez não déssemos o devido valor até pensarmos que realmente poderíamos perder a nossa liberdade material. Mas o que isso significaria? E quais as conseqüências psicológicas a que esse dilema acarretará?

Vamos tentar corresponder a estas questões através do acervo de imagens que,…

'' Le locataire '' is one of the masterpieces of cinema. With an unreliable protagonist (similar to Rosemary's Baby), the work proves to be macabre, confused and introspective.

It doesn't take long for the work to show an extremely effective suspense, largely because of its photography that creates a dark and unique atmosphere. Polanski's brilliant direction opts for his typical, sinister and beautiful plans once again, contributing to the growing tension of the plot. However, the film is not only concerned with terrorizing the public, but also with opening deep philosophical questions.

The work seeks to portray the destructive potential of living in society, the building being an allegory for itself. The raids on the protagonist's apartment should not be…