![]() ![]() It is a fever dream of madness, a remarkable feat of pure imagination and outré filmmaking. “Border” may be the strangest, most beguiling film that I have ever seen. I urge you to stop reading now and go see the movie at your earliest opportunity, avoiding any synopses, reviews, or trailers before you do. I only mention my blank-slate encounter with “Border” because I think it might well be the ideal way to see this film-without any foreknowledge of its plot whatsoever. “Let the Right One In.” Not “You Can Count on Me.” Same number of words, same general sentiment. It was the National Theatre of Scotland’s stage adaptation of the Swedish film “Let the Right One In”-the only time in my life that I have jumped out of my seat during a performance. I didn’t realize my mistake until after I’d left the theatre, my legs a little wobbly under me, my mind flashing back to a performance that I had attended a few years ago, at St. I’d completely forgotten that Lonergan had written it, or else I might have realized the error of my ways when I saw an unfamiliar name on the poster. The film that I was mistakenly thinking about is Kenneth Lonergan’s “ You Can Count on Me,” from 2000. Afterward, I’d take a leisurely stroll around the West Village, maybe get a cup of coffee, and continue on with my peaceful, solitary day, the film I’d just seen a small pebble dropped into the otherwise placid lake of my consciousness.īoy, was I wrong. I imagined that the film might skillfully edge toward the precipice of sentimentality without tumbling over, and that I would likely shed a tear or two as the end credits rolled. I assumed that I was in for what would probably be a thoughtful, muted story about ordinary people facing the small but consequential obstacles of everyday life. I had enjoyed that quiet little film from some years back, the one starring Laura Linney and a then-unknown Mark Ruffalo, and I felt good about entrusting part of my afternoon to that same screenwriter. ![]() The top of the film’s poster said something like “From the acclaimed screenwriter of ‘Let the Right One In . . . ’ ” Since I prefer to know as little as possible about movies before I see them, this small bit of information was good enough for me. Disappointed but still keen on seeing a movie that afternoon, I looked to see what else was playing “Border” was starting at about the same time. But a sign on the ticket window stated that all screenings of “Roma” were already sold out for the day. I’d gone to Manhattan’s IFC Center this past weekend intending to see a different film, “Roma,” arriving with what I’d thought would be plenty of time to get a good seat, nearly an hour prior to showtime. That’s odd, I thought, during the early going of Ali Abbasi’s new film, “Border.” I wonder why it’s in Swedish. ![]()
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