The Witch (2015)

by Dennis••0•Posted inFilms

The Witch (2015) was a film that I had on my to watch list for a very long time. It fits within a series of horror films that were considered “elevated horror” that focused more on the psychological and supernatural horror, and had strong folklore elements woven into them. Other examples of these would be Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019). The latter example also falls squarely into a genre which was dubbed “folk horror”, and I would say that The Witch falls into that category as well.

The film stars a young Anya Taylor-Joy, as well as the woefully underappreciated Kate Dickie and Ralph Ineson. They portray an English family who have moved to New England to start a new, pious life. They lead a secluded life far away from the less puritanical other settlers. The family consists of the father and mother, Thomasin (Taylor-Joy), her younger brother Caleb, her younger twin brother and sister, and her youngest baby brother Samuel. The family starts to experience a bout of bad luck after Samuel disappears while in the care of Thomasin; a bad harvest, empty traps set out to catch game, the family dog gets mutilated and dies, and several other things. This causes a tremendous amount of grief and discord. When Caleb ends up disappearing for a few days and is found naked and delirious, he seems to be under a supernatural spell. During all this trouble a lot of pressure is put on Thomasin to support her parents, take care of the children, and do her chores around the farm, and is constantly annoyed by the twins.

The slowly building horror in this film is incredibly well executed, and it continuously keeps you guessing about the possible supernatural nature of the family’s bad luck. I really enjoyed a rather refreshing take on a tired trope, while simultaneously feeling like this could well be historically accurate reflection of what might have preceeded the witch trials at Salem. Well worth the watch.

Stressful Dreams About Family

by Dennis••0•Posted inJournal

This morning I woke up after a night of deep sleep, but troubled with stressful dreams. The memory of the dreams faded pretty rapidly, but I remember that they were about family members, and predictably there was conflict and violence. I have let go of many relationships with my family members a long time ago, and only kept it touch with those that were worth the effort. With the odd exception, I have no regrets about that, and recently I have even had the bandwidth to reach out to one or two. Nothing much, just to ask whether they’d be interested in a birthday dinner. It was good.

For the rest of them, it’s been over two decades; why are they still causing me stressful dreams? I don’t even accurately recall half of the horrific shit that happened, so why am I still impact by it?

Ben Ali Libi, de Goochelaar

by Dennis••0•Posted inJournal

Op een lijst van artiesten, in de oorlog vermoord,
staat een naam waarvan ik nog nooit had gehoord,
dus keek ik er met verwondering naar:
Ben Ali Libi. Goochelaar.

Met een lach en een smoes en een goocheldoos
en een alibi dat-ie zorgvuldig koos,
scharrelde hij de kost bij elkaar:
Ben Ali Libi, de goochelaar.

Toen vonden de vrienden van de Weduwe Rost
dat Nederland nodig moest worden verlost
van het wereldwijd joods-bolsjewistisch gevaar.
Ze bedoelden natuurlijk die goochelaar.

Wie zo dikwijls een duif of een bloem had verstopt,
kon zichzelf niet verstoppen, toen er hard werd geklopt.
Er stond al een overvalwagen klaar
voor Ben Ali Libi, de goochelaar.

In ‘t concentratiekamp heeft hij misschien
zijn aardigste trucs nog wel eens laten zien
met een lach en een smoes, een misleidend gebaar,
Ben Ali Libi, de goochelaar.

En altijd als ik een schreeuwer zie
met een alternatief voor de democratie,
denk ik: jouw paradijs, hoeveel ruimte is daar
voor Ben Ali Libi, de goochelaar.

Voor Ben Ali Libi, de kleine schlemiel,
hij ruste in vrede, God hebbe zijn ziel.

– Willem Wilmink

A Third Hand

by Dennis••0•Posted inJournal

It’s remarkable how often I find myself in a situation where I need both hands to manipulate something, and I ideally would have a third hand to perform an action. When doing chores around the house, when training the dog, when performing small repairs, when untangling a necklace. I used to fantasise about what kind of cool cybernetic augmentation I would get in the future; elbow lasers, cybernetic eyes, legs with rocket boosters… Now I just want a third arm with a hand on it.