M (1931)

This movie took me a bit by surprise. I haven't seen a lot of films from this period, but I didn't expect to be so gripped by it. An interesting story, Lang's adept direction, and virtually all of the performances come together to create a really powerful film. Lorre, of course, is fantastic. I was so prepared for his final speech, knowing all of the buttons it was going to try and push, but it didn't matter—it is a really overwhelming performance; very effective. The other actors as well are more than pulling their weight here.

But of course what I loved most about the film was the wealth of iconic imagery, and for that matter iconic sound. For being an early talkie, Lang really made powerful use of sound. And the images are really stunning—the balloon caught in a wire, the empty dinner plate, that wonderful shot of Lorre looking back over his shoulder and finding himself marked. It got me thinking, really, about what it is that makes an image iconic. I think these images (and that whistled bit of Peer Gynt) occupy a space that often lies empty. Rather than lean on a word like interstitial, let's just say that they form a bridge—between the rational and the irrational, or between objective truth and what Herzog calls "ecstatic truth." One the one hand, of course, they succinctly convey information. The ball rolling in the woods tells us that its owner has fallen victim. We learn to hear the whistled tune as an indicator that our antagonist is in the grip of his murderous obsession. But the power of these icons is that, even as they tell us something, they just as crisply direct our emotional reaction. That image of the ball isn't just narrative; it's tragic. The strains of that song aren't just a plot device; they're chilling. I was enraptured by this film, so much so that at first I didn't trust my own judgement. But at some point you have to realize that it isn't accidental. You're in the hands of someone who knows just what he is doing.

In short, if this is what expressionist films are like—even if few are this successfully made—I obviously need to see a lot more of them.