DAVID AND LISA (1962)
Directed by Frank Perry
Homevision Entertainment DVD
THE FILMS
The throes of love never cease to fascinate me. Especially when things get crazy. And no one knows crazy better than Frank and Eleanor Perry.
Beginning with 1962's David And Lisa and concluding with 1970's Diary Of A Mad Housewife, director Frank Perry and wife/screenplayist Eleanor crafted a series of astute, cathartic films which celebrate the perplexity of human emotions. From surreal, middle-age melancholy (The Swimmer) to deeply unsettling teenage angst (Last Summer), the Perrys carved a niche. And they dug right in. Every time. Inconsistency may tug at the Perry coattails, but I'm blissfully unaware. For when it comes to small-scale obscurities with large-scale repercussions, Frank and Eleanor Perry remain one of the few great American unknowns. David And Lisa, the time is nigh.
David (Keir Dullea aka Mr. Black Christmas) is a self-serving obsessive-compulsive who hates to be touched. Literally and figuratively. Lisa (Janet Margolin aka Woody's wife in Take The Money and Run) is a schizo she-child who only speaks in miniature haikus. Neither one can face reality without a mountain of anxiety accompanying them. Still, when David and Lisa's eyes lock at a boarding school for the emotionally perturbed, something clicks. The growth begins: Pop-art dreams. Death obsessions. Sexual bloomings. Euphoric breakthroughs. All in the throes of love.
Death. Sex. Fear. Love. Parents. That's what David And Lisa is all about. That's also what every therapy session on the face of this earth is all about. And there's the big hook.
David And Lisa is steeped in a psychological honesty which was rarely glimpsed at in American films of the early 1960s. It's pro-humanism. It's pro-therapy. It's pro-baroque-teenage-absolution. Still, good intentions can only get you so far; it's the sparse, complementary presentation of the film which really solidifies the whole. Long, ominous shots out of windows and under bare trees isolate accordingly. Compositions veer from studied and applicable to rampant and spontaneous -- much like David's moods. Likewise, the script maintains a nice balance between calm introversion and impulsive bursts. While moments of disparaging flamboyance exist in both the soundtrack and performances, it's not enough to dispel the power in phrases such as, "We take a chance when we open up and love another person." At face value, that seemingly antiquated bit of dialogue may cause you to leave the room. But then, David has another dream involving giant clocks and severed heads. And Lisa finds peace in the arms of an inanimate objet d'art.
Funny, but things no longer seem so crazy.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
Now out of print, Homevision's DVD looks wonderful. Thick on black and white contrast, crisper than crisp, and perfectly tweaked mono sound; I couldn't think of asking for more.
EXTRAS
The disc is barren. But, I once saw the original David And Lisa soundtrack LP in a dusty, central Illinois record shop. The sleeve design was lovely. I didn't buy it. I should have.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Technically sparse. Emotionally packed. Always affecting. With David And Lisa, Frank and Eleanor Perry hatched a proactive, imperfect study of invigorating human sentiment. In 1962. See it if you can.
— Joseph A. Ziemba, 02.18.10 |
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