Jacob Singer
(Tim Robbins) has been having nightmares. Jacob dreams of an alternative life
with a different woman, he dreams of creatures chasing after him, he has dreams
of being back in service at Vietnam in 1971. As his hallucinations get worse,
Jake Singer tries desperately to find out why he is having these visions. Is it
post-traumatic stress disorder? Or is there something larger at work here?
Adrian Lyne’s
Jacob’s Ladder is a deeply unsettling
film to watch. There is no reference point for us to hang on to, to determine what
is true and what is false. We experience the same confusion Jake goes through,
a deliberate choice by Lyne. We shift suddenly to different places as Jake has
his ‘flashes’, to the jungles of Vietnam, locked subway stations, back to his
bedroom and then to another one of his bedrooms. Jake is plagued by monsters
that look like they have stepped out of a Francis Bacon painting. Humanoid
figures with skin fused over their faces, the briefly glimpsed monster writhing
around Jake’s girlfriend Jezzie (Elizabeth Peña) and twitching men appear from
nowhere. Yet, Jacob’s Ladder manages
to create scary scenes from the mundane and make the audience fear for Jake, one
of the most terrifying scenes in the film involves taking a bath.
The
cinematography by Jeffrey L. Kimball and Bruce Joel Rubin’s script is crammed
with religious overtones; characters are named after demons and angels and Gustave
Doré’s illustrations are featured prominently. Some of the most effective
scenes use flashing light, quickly illuminating the characters before plunging
them into darkness. As the film progresses, these overtones become more and
more apparent. There are some brief moments of Kafkaesque dialogue - when Jake
is speaking to a surgeon, trying to convince him that he has only injured his
back. Dirty green, brown and blue-grey are the main colour tones of Jacob’s Ladder, contributing to feeling
that something is amiss in Jacob’s world.
A
psychological horror like Jacob’s Ladder
needs a strong leading actor for a role like Jacob Singer’s. The actor has to convey
mental distress without relying on doing ‘crazy’ eyes, yet still be grounded
enough that the audience won’t dismiss the possibility that Jacob is not crazy.
Tim Robbins manages to achieve this fine balance, at times cheerfully talking
to a party goer before he becomes haunted by a strange vision he’s witnessed. Elizabeth
Peña does an excellent job bringing ambiguity to her character Jezzie (short
for Jezebel), is she caring towards Jake or is she trying to torment him? Danny
Aiello is a warm and safe presence as Louis, the chiropractor with divine hands,
for the few scenes he is in, dispelling the darkness that clouds Jake’s mind
for a few precious moments.
Jacob’s Ladder is a chilling visual exploration of
the depths the human mind escape to, in order to avoid confronting the truth.
0 comments:
Post a Comment