RIDDLING WHILE FOAM BURNS: I just saw The Way Things Go.

In a seemingly-abandoned warehouse, an incredibly complex apparatus has been set up, with no apparent purpose save its own destruction–and glory. A slowly untwisting garbage bag sets off a chain reaction of rusty, low-rent, slow, implacable old objects. The camera moves in relentlessly; the soundtrack is intensely tactile; there are menacing knives, whistling kettles, huge wooden spools rolling all catawampus toward an inevitable destination. There are unnatural combinations, like the burning foam, and eerie puns, like the shoes that walk by themselves. The action accelerates, but mostly decelerates, its rhythm winding you up into a fever of anticipation. What if it won’t work? What if it doesn’t work? …But you know it will work.

Oh my gosh, you guys. This is basically a horror movie where nothing bad happens!

Incredibly highly recommended. Parents and teachers might really love this as a science hook for their kids–I haven’t watched the special features, but I’m pretty sure the physics and chemistry of the crazily awesome Rube Goldberg contraption get explained–but really, I loved this for its funhouse reflection of horror. Many thanks to the Rat.

(Title credited to Nord and Bert Couldn’t Make Head or Tail of It.)