Vanishing, The (1993)

reviewed by
Lon Ponschock

                            THE VANISHING (1993)
                       A film review by Lon Ponschock
                        Copyright 1995 Lon Ponschock

American Version
Directed by George Sluizer
Stars Kiefer Sutherland, Jeff Bridges, Nancy Travis

                              " ... the devil is
                                in the details."
                             -- from THE VANISHING --

Okay, okay, it hooked me again. Pretty similar though. But like the opening quote says, the devil is in the details.

     I suppose they said the same thing to Oedipus.  :-)

Like the two halves of the infinity symbol, VANISHING I and VANISHING II are two halves, Moebius-like--intertwining very effectively. I'm glad I took Greg's advice and saw both. As a double bill, these two Vanishings make excellent viewing.

The scene is changed from Holland to Seattle, the cast is American. The director is the same. Interestingly the women characters are given more depth in the American version, and more conventional patterns are shown than in the Dutch version--perhaps a more personalized view, less objective. All these things have to do with the shift in focus in this American version. Do I sound like I'm dancing around talking about an actual comparison? Like the old book title has it, "I'm dancing as fast as I can." ;-)

There is completion in the two works and a balance as well. It would be interesting to hear other ideas on these two films. Not wanting to provide spoiler remarks, I feel constrained in saying anything else.

Do you remember the concluding quote I used for the Dutch version of THE VANISHING? It's not too far back, you can find it.

     Here's one to conclude this series:

                       "We need our need of needing each
                        other and more: we need our need of
                        _not_ needing each other."

                               -- Ken Nordine --
                         from 'Seven Plus One, No Locks'

--
lon

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Vanishing, The (1993)

reviewed byLon Ponschock

reviewed by
Lon Ponschock