Look may only be 7 minutes long, but it definitely engenders more than 7 minutes worth of contemplation. The premise seems simple enough: a female bartender (Starina Johnson) is being admired by a man (John Ferguson), but only until a prettier woman (Theresa Meeker) comes along. The man then follows the beauty from the bar to a loft photo studio, where she is made up for a photo shoot. Unfortunately, the man is not meant to be there, and is sent packing as he pines over the model.
Now, again, simple enough, right? Except maybe there never was a man. Maybe the admiration came from the bartender, pining after a beauty that she herself has not attained. Or maybe there is a man, and the model took him from the bartender, and now she’s reliving the tragedy (the film has a dream-like quality to it; more of a visual drifting). Or maybe it is exactly as it seems.
I have to admit, I don’t know if I entirely “got” Look, but that doesn’t bother me too much. At such a short running time, I was able to watch it more than once to answer a few questions and form my own personal interpretation of what happens. And while I could share that interpretation, I think it is better that folks see it and come to their own conclusions. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the relevance, resonance and power of Look resides entirely in the eye of the person watching it.
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