Black MoonIf you found yourself in a waking dream, would you know it? Would you see the illusion for what it is, or follow through with the irrationality which comes with fantasy? Fundamentally, Black Moon is a take on Alice in Wonderland, full of strange characters and dialogue that feels as if pulled from a dream-like fugue. Watching Black Moon is, in a way, like experiencing a dream, where logic and reason falls away in the sequence of tone and theme. There is a message in Black Moon, but it is one which calls out to the subconscious, and is implied rather than stated.
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Lily (Cathryn Harrison) is traveling through some undefined countryside, and some kind of conflict between men and women is raging; this war might be, in part, what the title of the film refers to. A "black moon" is an astrological symbol commonly associated with the mythological figure of "Lilith" (notice the naming similarity). In varied religious and occult apocrypha, Lilith was purported to be the first wife to Adam (of the Garden of Eden); refusing to be subservient to him, she distanced herself from Adam and the Garden, and was demonized afterwards. Black Moon was produced in the era of "second-wave feminism", a.k.a. "Women's Lib", and the metaphor of "battle of the sexes" becomes literal and direct in this film. Further aligned with the astrological symbolism of Lilith is her association with sexual desire; and while never overt, there are frequent hints at the young Lily's burgeoning sexuality, anywhere from the comical scene where her "bloomers" keep falling down, to her languid recline on the chair by the fireplace--not quite an odalisque, but you get the message. One of the aspects that makes Black Moon fascinating is the sense that the world that Lily is a part of is some kind of dystopian future, where nature has reclaimed the land. Dystopian in this capacity or not, there are repeated scenes that reflect the constant presence of wildlife in and around the old manor where much of the film takes place. Bugs crawl about Lily, and the farm is overrun by pigs, sheep, and other creatures--some seem to have learned to speak. Even more, a herd of wild children roam rampant throughout the place, and act no differently then the other herds of mammals. This theme reminds me of a common literary trope in Modernism: whereas the Romantics viewed nature as almost divine, with pastorals and the like, Modernism sees nature as something of an inevitability, encroaching on the civilized world...not our friend. The film deals with our insignificance in the face of nature, and also how our interpretation of society--exaggerated to a barely recognizable extent--is itself a parody of nature, an imitation equally absurd. And whether Black Moon is truly showing nature as the inevitable end, via the grand overtaking of society regardless of our quaint gender issues or not, is a conclusion that remains up to the traveler on this fantastic voyage.
It's difficult to describe Black Moon in terms of plot or story--the events of the film do not speak directly of anything to give us a clear picture of Lily's overall situation, but instead pull us deep into a metaphorical undertow, with suggestions of a war between the genders raging in the world--and what a bizarre world it is, with ugly unicorns, a set of fraternal twins--the brother (Joe Dallesandro) and the sister (Alexandra Stewart), both also named Lily--who communicate through touch, and even a Spanish-speaking rat named Humphrey. What's curiouser (and curiouser) about Black Moon is that we tend to instinctively look for deeper meaning in the seemingly meaningless events that take place. One could certainly argue for the claims that it is a story about gender, maturity, and sexual awakening. There is, however, still the sense that it is with us as it is with our perception of nature: always seeking patterns in the inscrutable formations of clouds or the tributaries of streams...the blowing of leaves. So much of the setting is in nature--it surrounds us, and man (and woman) are a foreign element. Military vehicles, battle fires, and even the manor where the old woman (Therese Giehse) inhabits feel wrong, so the accompanying bizarre behavior is a parallel of that alien quality. There is confusion and even apprehension about nature for Lily. Flowers cry, ugly unicorns talk to her--even when people won't--and the menacing insects and snakes have a vaguely phallic quality to them. Communication is a central theme of Black Moon, or more specifically, the difficulty of it. Characters like Brother Lily speak eloquently through touch...the old woman speaks a smattering of various languages, including Spanish to Humphrey, and a clan of naked children roam the wilds with herds of livestock, speaking nothing but gibberish. Communication is how we understand; but how can we understand if we can't communicate? The ongoing war taking place in the background is evidence to this social disintegration. The people of Lily's world are slaves to their rituals and conventions. They dress up in the costumes of their roles, often derived from myth, and they play out the parts they are scripted to perform. They wear makeup and act as if they were denied independent agency over their will. A brief poem shared by Lily and the old woman speaks verse that "all is illusion" and of "fire neverending"; that all is a dream from which one cannot wake. This also represents the absurdity throughout Black Moon, that her world is a fabrication, a delusion; there is even the ubiquitous presence of fire in numerous scenes. For the denizens of Black Moon, it is a world of refraction, of shadows dancing on the walls of the cave, illuminated by fire.
Recommended for: Anyone who thought Alice in Wonderland wasn't weird enough, or that it needed a Freudian/feminist/surrealist/Modernist bent.
It's difficult to describe Black Moon in terms of plot or story--the events of the film do not speak directly of anything to give us a clear picture of Lily's overall situation, but instead pull us deep into a metaphorical undertow, with suggestions of a war between the genders raging in the world--and what a bizarre world it is, with ugly unicorns, a set of fraternal twins--the brother (Joe Dallesandro) and the sister (Alexandra Stewart), both also named Lily--who communicate through touch, and even a Spanish-speaking rat named Humphrey. What's curiouser (and curiouser) about Black Moon is that we tend to instinctively look for deeper meaning in the seemingly meaningless events that take place. One could certainly argue for the claims that it is a story about gender, maturity, and sexual awakening. There is, however, still the sense that it is with us as it is with our perception of nature: always seeking patterns in the inscrutable formations of clouds or the tributaries of streams...the blowing of leaves. So much of the setting is in nature--it surrounds us, and man (and woman) are a foreign element. Military vehicles, battle fires, and even the manor where the old woman (Therese Giehse) inhabits feel wrong, so the accompanying bizarre behavior is a parallel of that alien quality. There is confusion and even apprehension about nature for Lily. Flowers cry, ugly unicorns talk to her--even when people won't--and the menacing insects and snakes have a vaguely phallic quality to them. Communication is a central theme of Black Moon, or more specifically, the difficulty of it. Characters like Brother Lily speak eloquently through touch...the old woman speaks a smattering of various languages, including Spanish to Humphrey, and a clan of naked children roam the wilds with herds of livestock, speaking nothing but gibberish. Communication is how we understand; but how can we understand if we can't communicate? The ongoing war taking place in the background is evidence to this social disintegration. The people of Lily's world are slaves to their rituals and conventions. They dress up in the costumes of their roles, often derived from myth, and they play out the parts they are scripted to perform. They wear makeup and act as if they were denied independent agency over their will. A brief poem shared by Lily and the old woman speaks verse that "all is illusion" and of "fire neverending"; that all is a dream from which one cannot wake. This also represents the absurdity throughout Black Moon, that her world is a fabrication, a delusion; there is even the ubiquitous presence of fire in numerous scenes. For the denizens of Black Moon, it is a world of refraction, of shadows dancing on the walls of the cave, illuminated by fire.
Recommended for: Anyone who thought Alice in Wonderland wasn't weird enough, or that it needed a Freudian/feminist/surrealist/Modernist bent.