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Fantastic job!
Question about Legion Frame 3 – the open church door with the rose on the left. Am I imagining it, but is there a dark/black figure standing in perspective just “above” and “behind” the rose? If so, it looks very much like the cassocked priest who can be seen running across the street twice during the opening credits. Or it could be an accidental shape – or my imagination.
That’s spooky! I’ll have to take a closer look later today.
I only noticed this yesterday, but when the church doors blow inward, the majority of the material that flies in are roses.
Thanks Ryan + Blizzi. We all love Fr Karras and my somewhat diseased eyes are always open for him in Legion. I got chills when I first saw the cassocked figure running across the street. It took me a while to even notice him, because the large lettering of the credits is so distracting. When I noticed him, I though, geez, this has got to be Karras!
Then Ryan’s Frame 3! It could just be a shadow. Note how the “arms” are kind of distorted and overly skinny. But then, that could be the way “he” is photographed. But if it does turn out to be a three-dimenional man in a cassock, this would place Karras at the scene of the “Pazuzu wind” ravaging the church. If so, we’ve got another in a series of rich depths and resonances with which Blatty so skillfully packed this film…
Good catch, Ryan, on the wind-blown material mostly being roses!
I didn’t notice that either! I’ll see what I can do with my picture editor… then we’ll see what we’ve got 😉
Just a word of admiration for Blatty’s habit of packing his films with symbols that offer “quick” studies of characters. E.g., take a close look at, or Screen Capture, just the desks of some characters: Kinderman’s police office desk with the Alka Selzer tablets, the miniature car, the hand-drawn Gemini sketch; the university president’s desk with its “The Anzac Sonata” book, the photo of the Cardinal, the photo of the two kids, the woman (preumably his mother). Such richness, glimpsed almost subliminally, but adding brush strokes to characters that would be clumsy in spoken/script form.
Not to mention the midnight-hour shot of Kinderman’s living room with the piano;, the outre’ decor of Dr Temple’s office, the simple cleanliness and sanctity of Fr Morning’s room, etc., which all generate a kind of “unconscious feeling” for the characters.
Plus, the brief but impressive moments that the camera lingers on desks and decor recall Friedkin’s use of the same style in the original film’s early minutes in the Iraqi museum curator’s office. Friedkin’s camera stays just long enough on the statuary and artifacts to create an unconsious impression – just as Blatty’s camera does in Legion. This technique is also imitated in the early minutes of The Exorcism of Emily Rose, where the camera “snaps” the artifacts of her life.
If you could check it out, Blizzi, with your picture editor, that would be great. I’m assuming it’s just light-shadow artifact since it’s so brief in duration.. but maybe not!
Indeed, and also in The Ninth Configuration. One shot depicts a statue of two brothers: one with a neutral facial expression, and the other with a somewhat horrific countenance. This is supposed to…
***TNC SPOILER***
Be a subliminal message to the viewers, telling them that Fell and Kane are, in fact, brothers. Kane being the tormented one, and Fell the other.
Will do, granville1 and very good points about the desks, walls, etc. Thaks for the spoiler warning, Ryan. 😉
Okay, thanks, Blizzi.
Thanks Ryan for your data re Fell and Kane as brothers exhibiting via the statue… naturally I didn’t catch it. Like Legion, it bears many, many viewings!
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