An impressive, audacious debut film from iconic Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci, The Grim Reaper is a clever exercise in narrative, form, perception, and the nature of truth, detailing the mystery surrounding the brutal murder of a Roman prostitute along the banks of the Tiber River. Following the exploits of a police investigator as he one by one interviews a handful of possible suspects and interrogates them, The Grim Reaper details each person's account of the nights' events, offering up a reconstruction of facts which eventually leads the viewer closer to the killer. The structure of The Grim Reaper is dynamic and transfixing, relying completely on these series of interconnected flashbacks to reveal the mystery of the murder. The narrative itself is solely connected by the various eye witness accounts, placing the viewer along for the ride, attempting, much like the investigator himself, to put the pieces together and solve the case. Each of these characters which are brought in for interrogation could be considered people on the fringes of society, outcasts who for one reason or another simply haven't been able to elevate themselves to a better state of living. Whether it is the vagabond soldier who is completely alone, or the street children who "are looking for work" but pickpocket in mean time, nearly every character in The Grim Reaper blurs the lines completely as to whose stories can be trusted or confided in, playing with the viewers' preconceived perceptions, forcing the viewer to routinely question who can be trusted and which characters' stories may be fabricated. While the structure of the film is audacious and should certainly be celebrated, it's once again Bertolucci's stylish visual aesthetic that elevates this film above mere film scholar exercise, featuring stark, black-and-white cinematography which certainly foreshadowed the things to come for this visual maestro. The use of contrast, particularly during the night sequences, mirrors the story itself, with each character venturing from the darkness to the light, and vice versa, visual symbolism which elevates the mystery and intrigue of each of these characters. With no true point-of-view, outside of the police narrator which is never shown on screen, The Grim Reaper's cinematography is never restricted, declaring itself as a unique point of view throughout the narrative as we jump from perspective to perspective, having voyeuristic qualities but also connecting the larger truths of this fateful night. While I'd argue that Bernardo Bertolucci's The Grim Reaper never feels very engaging from a character perspective, the film is sure to be appreciated for its more scholarly merits, playing with structure in a way that creates a fascinating deconstruction about perception and reliability of narrative itself.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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