Dementia

I'm not sure what to say about this. This is a very unusual film, a dream-like collision of Orson Welles, film noir, impressionist film, and B-grade horror movies. It is, to say the least, ambitious and uncompromising. I would summarize the plot, but I'd basically have to explain the entire movie. I don't want to do that because it's tiresome, but also because it might make a singularity erupt in my brain. Just know that it involves a woman waking up in a hotel, finding a knife on her person, wandering the streets, and it spirals from there. Dementia's big claim to fame is that there is no dialogue. There is barely even any pantomimed. All action, emotion, and plot development is communicated visually. While this is engaging and the director finds some neat ways to execute his vision, that vision also includes being more convoluted than a David Lynch/Christopher Nolan team-up. Impressionist art films like The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari and the unique camera work and narrative style of Orson Welles are apparent, but indulged in to the point of overkill. You will need the Wikipedia plot summary alongside to make heads or tails of Dementia. It is dense to the point of impenetrable, and it is proud of it. That renders Dementia little more than a cinematic curiosity. An experiment in the form factor of a film. It is not interested in being coherent. It is not interested in a standard story arc or character development. It is only interested in being weird. I appreciate what the director tried to do here. It's too intriguing to hate, but it's also too dense to enjoy. Sll I can do is appreciate the attempt.