Nicolas Roeg Discussion Thread

As part of my Seventies adventure I ended up watching all four feature films directed by British director Nicolas Roeg from the decade. I know that from the forum there's others who would have seen more of his work from outside the decade, Holden seems to be a fan and Honeykid is always labeling his work 'interesting'.

So I am wondering if anybody else has seen many of his films, and/or like me did they find themselves enjoying his Seventies output?

Here's how I'd rank what I've seen so far:

1. Walkabout

2. The Man Who Fell to Earth

3. Don't Look Now

4. Performance

On to actually discussing his work, there's a clear theme that resonates throughout his work: the clash of different personalities and cultures, and the communication problems that arise from this.

In Walkabout it's the aborigine that guides yet struggles to understand and ultimately fails to live with a young girl and boy. Then in The Man Who Fell to Earth it's the alien Bowie who sees himself consumed by the materialistic reality of the world as he finds himself consumed by television, sex and alcohol.

In Don't Look Now there's the ordinary English couple who find themselves 'lost' in a place that is meant to be a cure for there problems, with Venice a city often painted as a place full of colour and romance now becoming a living hell for them, it's the failure in communication between Sutherland's character and the two psychics that haunt him throughout the film, with Roeg showing us the character's struggles with the deliberate decision not to subtitle the non-English parts.

And whilst it seems that Roeg was more of a cinematographer for Performance, the man responsible for translating Donal Cammell's ideas onto the screen, the film is still full of similar problems as the worlds of an on-the-run gangster and bohemian musician collide in a mysterious film concerning identity.

Yes, this segues nicely into the upcoming '70s list, since that's when I think even people who don't much care for Roeg will agree his best work was done.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

I watched the 4 of those; I'd swap #s 2 and 3 but I really enjoyed all of them to at least some extent. It's interesting that he had 2 rock stars, who had connections to one another, as the stars to two of those films. I wonder if he was pals with them? He definitely kept me watching and I plan to look into the rest of his work.

I've seen Walkabout, The Witches, The Man Who Fell to Earth and Track 29 all of which I've liked to some degree, so I really should try to see more of his work.

I disliked Track 29 on first viewing even though I thought it really interesting. Then I felt drawn to watch it again and appreciated much more. Walkabout is the best out of what I've seen, but I really love The Witches and am really fond of The Man Who Fell to Earth.

Was that on purpose?

I made it through an hour of the movie before I caved and "acquired" some subtitles.