‘Don’t Look Now’: The movie Kiefer Sutherland said “changed cinema”
Born into an acting lineage, Kiefer Sutherland has always faced the prospect of matching up to his family’s performative expectations. But having carved his own eternal mark into the rich history of the entertainment industry, it’s fair to say that he’s more than accomplished such a feat.
Whether it be portraying Jack Bauer in the drama series 24 or his efforts in the likes of Stand by Me, A Few Good Men, A Time to Kill or Melancholia, Sutherland has proven his worth with a series of performances of a genuinely magnetic quality, a talent that undoubtedly comes from his heritage.
For as big an impression Sutherland has made on the cinema world over the years, he’s equally as big of a fan of the medium itself. When the actor named his five favourite movies of all time in a feature with Rotten Tomatoes, Sutherland pointed out a movie he believes “changed cinema”, a film with which he has familial relations.
“I’m not gonna put them in any particular order,” Sutherland began in his explanation, “but I’m gonna pick five films. I’m gonna pick Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, which is a film my father was in. I think it changed cinema. Nick Roeg has an opening that is all flash cuts.”
“I think that opening is about 60 seconds long, and that was his movie,” Sutherland added. “Then he spends the next two hours explaining it to you in a slower, longer version. It was a film with my father and Julie Christie. An unbelievably important film, a profound film.”
Don’t Look Now is Roeg’s 1973 thriller movie adapted from the 1971 short story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier, released as part of her 1971 collection Not After Midnight and other stories. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie portray John and Laura Baxter, a married couple who travel to Venice for John to restore a church following the accidental death of their daughter.
Things get strange in Venice after the pair come into contact with a clairvoyant, who claims that their daughter is trying to contact them from the beyond. The sceptical John dismisses the clairvoyant’s beliefs but starts to experience strange visions of his daughter, clearly in the throes of grief.
The film is an excellent examination of the nature of mourning, and Roeg is on masterly form with his editing and imagery. Don’t Look Now is considered a classic of British horror, and it’s certainly drawn the admiration of Donald Sutherland’s son, Kiefer.
