TOUCH MY MONKEY! LOVE HIM! PET HIM! Sorry, I just had to do that. After watching “The Girl With The Pearl Suspended,” you’d want to do the same.
I really don’t know how to explain “The Girl With The Pearl Suspended.” Is it just an average exercise in experimental film or a lost short used in the SNL sketch “Sprokets?” Some mysteries are better left unsolved.
In its short sixteen minutes, the film subjects us to a bizarre dream sequence, a couple of side show acts, two guys making love, more side shows, then finally a man being stabbed by a man who looks like the lead singer from Soundgarden. Does this make any sense? Not really. Does it have to? No. This is experimental film we’re talking about, folks. From what I’ve been told by other film enthusiasts, experimental films aren’t supposed to make sense; they’re supposed to stir emotions not relatively done with the mainstream cinema of today. Confusion is one emotion that comes to mind after watching this.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying it’s a terrible movie. As a matter of fact, the subplot (if you want to call it that) involving the freak show was pulled off in a highly artistic manner. It does have a love for German expressionism in its detailed set design and costume. But as a whole, this piece is like a surreal bit of visual poetry without rhyme or reason. Elements like this should amount to some sort of linear structure, experimental or not. I’m not asking for my art to be spoon fed, just give me enough visual structure so I don’t start thinking about whether I left the oven on or not while I’m watching the movie. There has to be something (or someone for that matter) that the audience can associate with. Through all its side show acts and rose-colored scenery, I couldn’t find it. Maybe a couple of days with Dieter will straighten it out. Now it is time on Sprokets when we dance!
