Coming towards the end of January. A cold day with no sunshine at all. It put me in the mood for two films I have never seen.
The first, The Reflecting Skin, is a 1990 coming-of-age horror film written and directed by Philip Ridley, starring Jeremy Cooper, Viggo Mortensen and Lindsay Duncan. Set in 1950s rural Idaho, it follows an impressionable young boy who becomes convinced that a neighbouring widow is a vampire responsible for several unexplained disappearances. Described by Ridley as a “mythical interpretation” of childhood, the film weaves together elements of vampirism, surrealism, black comedy, symbolism and religious zealotry throughout its narrative.
The second movie is Twilight, a 1990 Hungarian black-and-white drama directed by György Fehér. Drawing on elements from Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s novel The Pledge, it follows an ageing detective who becomes fixated on finding the murderer of a young girl in a remote, desolate landscape. The film’s slow, atmospheric style and sparse dialogue emphasise the detective’s mounting obsession, highlighting the moral tensions that arise from his unyielding pursuit of justice.