Dottie Gets Spanked

I'm into movie watching for the so-called "long form." That's where you are transported to another world, something happens which may change your life and then (sometimes) you are registered back home.

Many, many elements of this enterprise are difficult, and few films do the trick. The "short form" is where some element of the larger goal is attempted. Usually it is the introduction to another world, and some people are satisfied with merely being transported (because most people don't wanted to be changed anyway).

Todd Haynes is something of a master at this. It is all he does, even in his full-length movies, which is a bit disappointing, but the upcoming Dylan project looks like he is trying to play with the big boys.

This is his best so far, in part because it is so carefully constructed. Entry into other worlds usually depends on folding abstractions. The fold in this case is Steve's reality folded into a TeeVee show (which also contains his dreams) which is folded into the reality behind the show. All these collapse into a multidimensional spanking fantasy that gets put away to haunt him as an adult.

The characters and such are well done, but it is the folding that makes this thing work.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.