Rosemary's Baby
d. Roman Polanski, 1968
Having only seen two of Polanski's films--1965's Repulsion and 1974's Chinatown--I was certainly expecting Rosemary's Baby to be a good film, but I was not prepared for such an unshakable experience. First of all, Mia Farrow is simply stunning as the lead, and John Cassavetes' work here is only matched by his role in his own last film, Love Streams (1984). Though as not as physically powerful as Repulsion, Rosemary's Baby has the edge on narrative conviction; the viewer is effortlessly carried from one part of Polanski's ingenious story to the next, with rarely a down moment. I could go on and on about how the film subverts standard horror archetypes and rhythms, and I probably will, at a later. Truly a great film. I mean, goddamn.
