"Skinamarink" takes you back to the point-of-view of a child, where the house and its gaping holes and dark spaces were cavernous enough to scare you. The grainy film runs to give you something to watch at, to mark time -- it's like continually running water. The film is also for the pleasure of seeing things *being* filmed, like experimental films like Michael Snow's "Wavelength," or "Un Chien Andalou," or "Meshes of the Afternoon," but strung forward to make for a plot and a feature-length film. It's also like the Spielberg-scripted, Tobe Hooper-directed "Poltergeist" in that it's looking at how items left around the house can turn on you, can have a haunted quality and make you feel trapped. And the kids' sense of self and hailing an other is really emotional and moving; just hearing them say "Mom" or "Dad" or lines like "I got scared so I couldn't go back" is enough to break your heart. Also, watching it from the opening credits onward is pure pleasure. This is one of the best pictures ever made. On top of that, it shows how cartoons left running around the house on a TV can have more resonance and *presence* than they were meant to -- again, it's like, in this case, the Spielberg- and Joe Dante-directed segments of "Twilight Zone" were run-throughs for how these things can occupy space, and chaotically spill over. You'll feel like you're in your footsie pajamas *yourself* by the end of this one -- trust me!
"You need to be as small children if you want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven," Jesus is reputed to have said.
Looks like we're already *here* ... !
Amen.
8 out of 24 found this helpful