This completes my viewing of all classic Peter Greenaway films, from his 1982 debut The Draughtman's Contract to 1993's The Baby of Macon (well, I still need to see his 1995 jammer, The Pillow Book, to truly complete this, I suppose). He has become one of my favorite filmmakers in the last 5 years but I would place Drowning By Numbers towards the bottom, just above Prospero's Books (1992), which I might say is one of the most unwatchable movies I have ever seen. While I still enjoyed much of what this film had to offer, the concepts felt, to me, a bit emptier than Greenaway typical fare. Murder is always amusing but I wasn't able to find a deeper inspiration in this story or these characters. Beyond that, there is a lot of effective dark humor and, as usual, tons of beautiful cinematography and set designing - over 2/3 of the shots in this film could be a painting. I recently saw Peter do a lecture in person and stated that he was a painter before he became a filmmaker and perceives every shot like a painting - now I can't watch a Greenaway film without seeing this, but it's a magical thing. Listening to him talk for 90 minutes was just as fascinating as his films are, "We need less writers in film, and more painters".
This is kind of one of those movies where all the characters are unlikeable. Like, really, it's truly hard to like any of them. Because of this, the movie does seem to drag quite a bit considering the story is rather redundant and the vibes remain somewhat bad throughout. This movie is still a rather great feat and accomplishment but it's hard to love it when so many of Greenaway's other films feel so much more thorough and inspired. This one felt most like his 85 film, A Zed & Two Noughts to me, but that one was even MORE bizarre, and I think that was that film's primary charm, aside from it featuring one of the finest musical scores ever made (along with The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, both my Michael Nyman).
I would also say that this is Greenaway's "most British" feeling film! So British! Very strange, like so many of his movies, but I would never recommend anyone start with this one. I would say only watch this if you are a real Greenaway lover.
This is kind of one of those movies where all the characters are unlikeable. Like, really, it's truly hard to like any of them. Because of this, the movie does seem to drag quite a bit considering the story is rather redundant and the vibes remain somewhat bad throughout. This movie is still a rather great feat and accomplishment but it's hard to love it when so many of Greenaway's other films feel so much more thorough and inspired. This one felt most like his 85 film, A Zed & Two Noughts to me, but that one was even MORE bizarre, and I think that was that film's primary charm, aside from it featuring one of the finest musical scores ever made (along with The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, both my Michael Nyman).
I would also say that this is Greenaway's "most British" feeling film! So British! Very strange, like so many of his movies, but I would never recommend anyone start with this one. I would say only watch this if you are a real Greenaway lover.