I hope readers here don't mind if I take the quick and easy way out of reviewing Evald Schorm's existential character study Return of the Prodigal Son by primarily linking this post to the first review I wrote about the film back in 2012. It was a few months or so after Eclipse Series 32: Pearls of the Czech New Wave had been released and I was covering the film as part of a weekly column I wrote for Criterion Cast. I just watched the film again tonight, and after reading what I wrote three summers ago, which I think sums up my thoughts quite adequately, I feel like I don't have a whole lot more to add in writing at this time, even if I give it another day or two of consideration. Not only that, I'm also planning to discuss this film, along with two other titles (Capricious Summer and The Joke) included in the same box, this coming weekend as the latest episode for my Eclipse Viewer podcast. Given this unusual coincidence of scheduling, I'd much rather preserve my fresh takes on the film for that conversation, than to spill it out here and then deal with the pressure of coming up with even more new material in just a few days.
I'm telling you, the pressure to produce... to perform... to constantly reapply myself to the creative process over and over again... and for what purpose? Yes, I have a good job... a nice family... an enjoyable hobby and creative outlet that seems pleasant and respectable enough. But I mean, who really cares, anyway? This blog... those recordings of Skype conversations that we post online for the amusement of a few isolated souls out there in the whole wide big bleak desolate world, as if our opinions on such matters amounts to anything important or of lasting significance. What difference does it all make? Why bother? What's the point? Why even feign interest in carrying on? Is it really worth it? Sometimes I wonder, more often lately, I get sick of even asking the question, when I know... I recognize the staggering, empty, appalling truth. No. No, it's not. There's no point. I give up. Ugh.
(and before any of you start to worry about my interior resolve or mental well being, just watch the film and you'll understand...)
Next: Belle de jour