An obsessive-compulsive coming to grips with his traumatized childhood via flashbacks? Sounds a bit tiresome. Actually, our protagonist’s personal psychoanalysis comes when he’s knocked unconscious by a moving crew’s crate, and the film doesn’t point too many worn-out fingers into the past. It’s gorgeously shot, and fairly simple despite the ostensible subject. A subconscious dream sequence tells the past quickly and adroitly, mixing both mirthful recollection and ghostly confusion. Dialogue is kept to the minimum, and Garfinkel does an excellent job of letting striking images convey his tale.
