In Fabric (Peter Strickland, 2019)

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reaky
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 8:53 am
Location: Cambridge, England

Re: In Fabric (Peter Strickland, 2019)

#26 Post by reaky » Sun Sep 15, 2019 4:32 am

This felt like a Dario Argento story spliced into a 70s Amicus portmanteau horror. It’s full of invention, and often hilarious, but as others have said, momentum evaporates, and I was much more curious about the characters and plot threads discarded than those latterly picked up.

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DarkImbecile
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Joined: Mon Dec 09, 2013 6:24 pm
Location: Albuquerque, NM

Re: In Fabric (Peter Strickland, 2019)

#27 Post by DarkImbecile » Mon Dec 16, 2019 4:01 pm

In Fabric isn't nearly as good as Duke of Burgundy, and I think some of the disappointments expressed up-thread are understandable, but I still unapologetically enjoyed just about every minute of the experience of watching this in a tiny theater with a handful of other uncomfortably laughing audience members. There aren't many filmmakers expressing their inner kinky weirdos these days as openly and hilariously as Strickland does, and he pushes his brand of surrealist humor much farther in this feature than his prior two.

His use of reflections, partially obscured compositions, and non-sequitur editing keep even the most narratively unmoored segments visually entertaining, and the use of sound is, as usual, quite striking (the music is credited to the fantastically named Cavern of Anti-Matter, which I assumed was just Strickland but turns out is a touring band featuring two former members of Stereolab). Strickland's knack for finding distinctive new faces and voices that fit his aesthetic and coaxing off-kilter yet still engaging performances out of them is in evidence (Richard Bremmer and Leo Bill being the best examples here), but I particularly loved seeing some of his recurring players pop up again: in particular, Fatma Mohamed gives a fantastically over-the-top performance as the sinister ... employee? owner? denizen? ... of the department store that offers sales and products so compelling that everyone overlooks the comically bizarre behavior of the staff. Nearly all of the film's most indelible images feature her, from
SpoilerShow
smearing mannequin menstrual blood on her face to her grin as she rides down into the depths of the store and observes the hellish sweatshop fates of the unfortunate protagonists.
Strickland is definitely riffing on consumerism and business culture, from banks to washing machine repair — if I ran a business, I'd have to steal Mohamed's "Did the transaction validate your paradigm of consumerism?" line for regular use at checkout — but also includes enough of the voyeurism, sexual anxiety, and interpersonal power dynamics that have been the staples of his work so far. I had hoped when this was announced that it would make a bigger impact and give Strickland a larger audience and more opportunities, but I'm perfectly happy with him steering into the idiosyncrasies that make him one of the most distinctive working directors, as long as he can keep scraping together his singular projects.

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DarkImbecile
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Re: In Fabric (Peter Strickland, 2019)

#28 Post by DarkImbecile » Fri Jan 03, 2020 12:13 pm

Vulture interview with Strickland, with spoilers for In Fabric but also featuring such timeless out-of-context quotes as:
Peter Strickland wrote:...and I was parked just underneath one mannequin. Sometimes I think that might explain why I lost my hair.

...

The semen dries into this silvery pattern that looks like a design that somebody thinks looks good and buys it...

...

Surely, come on, you can put up with a bit of chic menstrual tasting...

moonboot
Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2018 3:14 pm

Re: In Fabric (Peter Strickland, 2019)

#29 Post by moonboot » Fri May 07, 2021 11:13 am

Watched this again, for maybe only the second time, last night, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I think though, for me, it's the fact that the soundtrack is such a huge part of the film, that (a bit like Shane Carruth's Upstream Color) you can almost view the film as a video for a great album. Whether the film would be as good without the superb soundtrack I think is debatable.

I really enjoyed it though. It's funny, a bit weird and has great music - so ticks all my boxes for a film.

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