Phantom Limb is an exercise in grief by the filmmaker. I feel he’s coping with his grief with every step of the film. The title itself expresses the deep grief he feels like he is missing a limb without his brother with him. It's heart wrenching to think of this child feeling responsible for the death of his brother. Each segment expresses the loss and pain he feels using unrelated images to show that grief can be all encompassing. The interesting thing is that the film maker is never seen nor heard during this extremely personal story, only through very plain text in the opening story. The virtual omission of himself in the film makes it able for people to relate their own experiences with grief while watching. It was very hard to not be affected by the compelling images shown.
Do you think that if the director had chosen to show himself in the film it would have affected the design he was going for? He still chooses to put much of his own life in the movie, starting the first ten minutes with pictures of him and his family and although including himself could have disrupted the goal of the film, I think he could have done it in a way to emphasize it as well.
ReplyDeleteIt would be terrible to be so young and believe that you are the reason your brother died. The family that jay grew up with were not very good at handling death and I believe jay has a lot of resentment because of that. I believe that the reason the film maker is never seen or heard is a good thing because it makes the film feel more strange and creepy.
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