Sight & Sound's 75 Hidden Gems: Deep End

I'm a sucker for film lists, particularly those that cull the forgotten, overlooked, or otherwise unchampioned from the sea of cinematic ephemera. Sight & Sound's 75 Hidden Gems: The Great Films Time Forgot (August 2007) is (for the most part) precisely the kind of list that makes my mouth water, and it's led me on a quest to hunt down as many down as possible. As part of the magazine's 75th anniversary, the editors asked critics from around the world to choose a single film that is "unduly obscure and worthy of greater eminence." With few exceptions (both Stir of Echoes and Superstar are hardly lost or forgotten) the list is pretty darn solid, and of the 75 (76 if you count Editor Nick James' selection of The Moon in the Gutter) I've only seen a pitiful 16. I decided to track down some of the rarer titles, especially those I've had on my 'to see' list for some time. The first film I managed to locate was Jerzy Skolimowski's Deep End (1970), the selection of BBC critic David Thompson. My familiarity with Skolimowski is limited to his work as a screenwriter (Knife in the Water), and one film -- the also-forgotten Moonlighting from 1982, though I've been trying to locate his adaptation of Nabokov's King, Queen, Knave for years. Deep End, his second English language film, is a seedy psychosexual thriller set in London's East End. Mike (John Moulder-Brown) is a shy, awkward 15 year-old who lands a job at a public bathhouse. When not escaping from the lusty clutches of oversexed, oversized middle-aged women who would love nothing more than to rob him of his innocence (including Diana Dors, here more resembling Divine than the blonde bombshell of The Unholy Wife), Mike himself is lusting after fellow employee Susan (red-headed beauty Jane Asher) -- several years his senior, and having an affair with a swimming instructor although she's engaged. Mike's obsession with Susan will lead him on a downward spiral into the underworld of porno theaters, swingers clubs, and the consumption of too many hot dogs. Skolimowski's portrait of youth is decidedly bleak, with Mike thrust into the real world straight from school without the necessary psychological or emotional maturity. His obsession with Susan -- a calculating temptress who strives to possess all she can get -- is more tragic than frightening, but I'm not sure if the element of social criticism is intentional. If nothing else, the film is unbelievably sordid. Every adult figure is portrayed as selfish, corrupt, callous or simply sleazy, save for a hot dog vendor (played by Cato himself, Burt Kwouk) who is the lone possessor of something resembling a warm, human emotion. The line readings throughout are so flat, that I wasn't sure if the film was dubbed, or if Skolimowski was going after a Bressonian vibe. The lengthy set piece that leads to the film's tragic conclusion, while not at all surprising, is rather disturbing, owing to Skolimowski's refusal to apply even a trace of moral appraisal; there are no lessons to be learned here. Lodged somewhere between art-house and exploitation flick, and with an incredible soundtrack by Cat Stevens and Krautrock superstars Can, Deep End is a look at the darker side of swinging London -- where porno films feature Wagner scores, middle-aged women use boys as masturbatory objects, and a public bathhouse will sooner get you killed than clean.

Comments

[David Lowery]

The last line of your review made me wonder if Cronenberg watched Deep End before making Eastern Promises - and casting Skolimowski in a prominent supporting role in it.

[Filmbrain]

Skolimowski is in Eastern Promises? That's pretty cool. . .

[wells]

And as you've surely heard, Anthology is doing a full-on Skolimowski retro this fall, which I think is the most exciting thing on any of the NY fall rep calendars. They're even showing a new 35 print of DEEP END for a week! With its black humor, adolescent angst, and Cat Stevens score, I think it out HAROLD-AND-MAUDE's HAROLD AND MAUDE.

And you absolutely must check out Jerzy's LE DEPART, an all-time personal favorite -- imagine a forebear to TWO-LANE BLACKTOP starring Leaud and featuring some of the best poker-faced long-shot comedy this side of Keaton, with anti-capitalist commentary worthy of Godard. And it's still not available on DVD! Hmm, if only sometime I knew ran a specialty DVD label designed for cinephiles to uncover lost masterpieces and future classics, with an eye on overlooked gems that deserve greater recognition...

[Filmbrain]

Chris --

No, I hadn't heard about the retro. Great news!

As for Le Depart -- you track down who has the rights to it and I'll pay you a commission.

[Katie]

I love a good premise for a movie list- it's always sad to hear about another pathetic AFI topic, which only serves to rehash the same movies over and over.

Brian over at Film Walrus is a list nut. The linked URL is his rankings that are posted, but he's got a great *master list* in the works (to be posted soon).

It'd be great to see what remains on your To See list. Perhaps you will treat us to it?

--Katie (longtime lurker who never gets the screenshots until after you give the answer)

[Justine]

I can't believe I didn't come across this list earlier! I have only seen, Blow-Out (not a fan), and I own Peter Ibetson. It's an interesting concept to say the very least.

[Peter Nellhaus]

Do you know if the list is available online? I did see Deep End a couple of times theatrically. It was one of my favorite films. Let us know how good the version available is. I assume it is a DVD-R.

[Filmbrain]

Katie -- My "to see" list exists on tattered notebook pages, post-it notes, backs of napkins, margins of too many books, electronic entries on my Treo, etc. One of these days I should consolidate it all. . .

Peter -- It wasn't on the S&S sight as of about a month ago, which is why I went and bought the issue. Not sure if it's posted anywhere. Curious to know how many you've seen. . .

[Peter Nellhaus]

I found an online version of the list here. I counted twenty-five films, several that I saw on network television back when that was a great source for film. I'm thrilled to know that Leo the Last is available on DVD - I saw it twice, the first time with John Boorman who I was able to speak with afterwards. My big gap is with films from Eastern Europe. Ya gotta admit that proportionately they did better with listing women filmmakers, although I would trade Terminal Island and Stephanie Rothman for Barbara Peter's Bury Me an Angel.

[deanswift]

how did you find it?

[Filmbrain]

Someone was selling an awful looking copy on Ebay.

[wells]

I know Kim's in NY has a DVD-R of DEEP END for rent. I think it's even an 'Employee Pick,' so it's only a dollar overnight.

[colinr]

The list is also up at criterionforum.org, though in their Other section that you have to log in to access (for free) - page 5 of the Underrated topic.

Only seen 13 of them myself, I'm really glad to see White Dog on the list though and coincidentally The Pumpkin Eater was shown as part of the BBC's "Summer of British Film" season a couple of weeks ago, so gave me the chance to see that one.

[burritoboy]

I've been playing around with my own neglected list myself for a long time, and here's what I got so far (in no particular order):

Barbara Loden's Wanda (1974)
Karel Kachyna's The Ear (1970)
Mikio Naruse's Late Chrysanthemums (1954)
Milton Moses Ginsburg's Coming Apart (1969)
Kent MacKenzie's The Exiles (1961)
George Axelrod's Lord Love a Duck (1966)
Alain Corneau's Serie noire (1979)
Berthold Bartosch's L'Idee (1932)
Willy Zielke's Das Stahltier (1936)
Will Hindle's Watersmith (1971)
Fons Rademakers' Spitting Image (1963)
Aleksei German's My Friend Ivan Lapshin (1984)

[Jason]

Wow..."Straight Talk" and "Superstar"? I talked with Bruce McCullach back in 99' when "Superstar" came out. I mentioned I liked his "Dog Park" better. But aside from those two the only others I saw were "Blow Out" and "Grace Of My Heart".

[burritoboy]

I've been playing around with my own neglected list myself for a long time, and here's what I got so far (in no particular order):

Barbara Loden's Wanda (1974)
Karel Kachyna's The Ear (1970)
Mikio Naruse's Late Chrysanthemums (1954)
Milton Moses Ginsburg's Coming Apart (1969)
Kent MacKenzie's The Exiles (1961)
George Axelrod's Lord Love a Duck (1966)
Alain Corneau's Serie noire (1979)
Berthold Bartosch's L'Idee (1932)
Willy Zielke's Das Stahltier (1936)
Will Hindle's Watersmith (1971)
Fons Rademakers' Spitting Image (1963)
Aleksei German's My Friend Ivan Lapshin (1984)

[Filmbrain]

Burritoboy --

That's a highly impressive list, and without hesitation Serie Noire would be near the top of mine. What a film that is!

Great to see Lord Love a Duck and Coming Apart on there as well.

Exquisite taste, sir.

[burritoboy]

Sorry for that double post. Itchy posting finger.

I think a "neglected gems" is really what the most important list a person can make. Nobody really needs another "Top x00" list telling them that Citizen Kane (or another well-known and respected item) is no. 1 or no.53. Everybody knows the reputations of these well-traveled films already and should just really see them already (if they haven't done so) and make up their own minds.

The "neglected gems" lists really do serve very useful purposes, on the other hand. In my list, I wanted to highlight that Naruse's oeuvre is much deeper than people generally believe, and that he is only slightly less great than Ozu or Mizoguchi. I also, for example, think Watersmith rivals the works of Brakhage or Conner.

And, because "neglected gems" lists are more individual, they tell you more about the list-maker(s).

[jim emerson]

"Deep End" is one of my favorite movies! I, too, recently found a DVD-R of it that appears to have been made from a 16mm print. Even though it was a Paramount release, I'm assuming the reason it's not available has something to do with the Cat Stevens music rights ("Tea for the Tillerman" stuff -- like "Harold and Maude," but this movie was never popular like that one, so it might not seem worth the investment). Anyway, now that you've seen it, you should be able to pick out the opening shot from it here:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2006/06/opening_shots_project_pop_quiz.html

Thanks for featuring this!

[Noel Vera]

Thanks for the online link to the 75 films. Lemme just say Paul Grimault's The King and the Bird just blows anything by Disney and Pixar out of the water, is easily one of the five greatest animated films ever made.

And as for my entry in the 75 I can provide the complete text