In Fabric

Uma loja de roupa intemporal como um templo colorido das necessidades e fraquezas humanas, habitada por uma vampira gótica, um criado bizarro e cortesãs. Uma viagem misteriosa a fetiches humanos e ansiedades interiores através duma atraente lente de giallo. A primeira metade atrai e desperta a curiosidade. Mas a segunda, que vira a página e segue outras vítimas, só é interessante no início antes de começar a ligar-se ao lado comum do mal. Depois torna-se aborrecido com situações parecidas às da primeira metade que não se deslocam para nenhum lugar significativo. E perde-se o impulso completo da narrativa quase hipnoticamente envolvente. É como se Strickland não soubesse como finalizar as cartas que jogou tão bem. O mais adequado seria uma forma de série onde os vestidos assassinos visitam uma casa diferente em cada episódio. Dessa forma, o criador poderia aproveitar as dezenas de bizarras constelações de personagens e o seu funcionamento íntimo, «atrás de portas fechadas». (13/09/2019)

Fashion hell done a little differently. What makes In Fabric an exclusive film is also its biggest weakness. Events do not develop, but rather repeat with the regularity of rituals (which surrealists love so much). Sheila returns to the department store, whose staff try to charm her with baroquely elaborate phrases. She goes on dates via ads. She learns details of her son’s love live. Again and again, without anything going anywhere or so that we better learn the past of dresses that cause washing machines to commit suicide or, as the case may be, we understand the bizarre laws of this fictional world, which gives the impression of being simultaneously modern and archaic. Thanks to tactile imaging of surfaces, clever work with colours and the use of avant-garde stylistic elements (e.g. overlapping shots during a love scene, when not only bodies but also layers of the image intertwine), it is seductive and intoxicating, but that is not enough for a feature-length film. Therefore, at the midpoint of the film, an unexpected change occurs, followed by a variation not of a particular situation, but of the whole first hour of the story (stylistically reminiscent of British social dramas rather than giallo films). Instead of strengthening the atmosphere, the film turns to disintegrates. It loses its momentum and cohesion, and is no longer able to say much of anything new about the central theme of capitalistic fetishisation of merchandise, to which we attribute magical properties under the influence of marketing. Throughout its runtime, In Fabric is a very stylish, likably exaggerated affair that is difficult to compare to anything else in contemporary art cinema, but next time I would prefer to see one excellent film than two passable stories. 70% (17/07/2019)

A formally pampered bizarre thing, with a flavourless and empty plot. I had fun, especially with the scenes in the hellish shopping mall, but, when a film is weird, like this one is, I prefer it to have something more tangible, a clear author’s intention. This one, however, was pretty random. #KVIFF2019 (02/07/2019)

Peter Strickland isn't a director I seek out and I wasn't too impressed with his much lauded In Fabric. It should definitely be noted that the director has an eye for detail and the references to Italian Giallo work well, but that's where it ends for me. It’s an uninteresting film focusing on a critique of consumerism and the fashion world, with a strange narrative, minimal horror elements, lots of bizarre scenes that don't actually make much sense, and I didn't find the supposed humour funny at all. It's a film so weird that you either like it or don't care about it, like I did. I wasn't entertained and the only thing that caught my attention was the washing machine scene. 40% (02/09/2019)

This is such a beautifully bizarre movie. I enjoy watching scenes from the peculiar world of Peter Strickland, and I certainly have nothing against the movie’s almost two-hour length, but the division into the two different sections didn't sit with me very well, and this has quite diminished an otherwise engaging experience. Overall, however, it was quite satisfactory, and I am persuaded to watch Strickland's other phantasmagorias. (19/01/2020)

Lixo artístico, mas sempre lixo. Uma homenagem visualmente hipnotizante aos filmes B de terror dos anos 80 do filme sobre objetos assassinos e giallo sangrento italiano, tem o ritmo incrivelmente lento em lugares apesar da presença de algumas ideias notáveis (duas horas é realmente demasiado tempo para este tipo de filme, alguns mais ou menos 80 minutos teriam sido muito mais adequados) e, geralmente, também por causa da história trivial, com a qual outros motivos aleatórios que não levam a lado nenhum são posteriormente conectados, trata-se principalmente de um desfile retro de vídeo-arte de cenas e momentos bizarros, que são tão loucos e insanos aqui e ali que não se pode evitar rir (ou pelo menos abanar a cabeça, rir e perguntar-se o que se passava na cabeça de Peter Strickland e que drogas tomava quando inventava isto). (04/07/2019)