Coming Apart

Like Blair Witch, this could seem like an authentic documentary for the less informed. However, it's a clever piece of film making. Rip Torn plays a psychiatrist with emotional problems who feels he can solve them if he secretly films himself with his female patients/lovers/pick-ups. There are those who may not have a lot of patience with the program as it's shot entirely in a small apartment room. Other viewers won't be able to watch it without experiencing memories of their own romantic life because Torn's character isn't to different from most men. I see a lot of myself in him. He's always on the prowl for a new conquest. He grows tired of the women who fling themselves at him and he constantly desires the ones who don't.

This is the only movie made by Milton Moses Ginsberg.

A man hides a camera in his apartment which records his sexual experiences and mental breakdown.

I saw this one on Wikipedia on a list of FF movies sorted by date recently. I like watching oldies so why not? What's especially interesting is that it's from 1969 and only the 2nd FF film on the list.

So, this one really blurs the lines between "a film of a man having a mental breakdown" and "a porno with a plot". At least I thought so. There was a real lot of sex and nudity. At one point, the man reveals how he disguises the camera behind a mirror by showing it to another mirror. I appreciated that, it makes it plausible. Towards the end, he sits in front of the camera and talks at which point it's apparent that he's having a mental break. Then it's a bunch of arguing with I think an ex-wife. Other than that, it's just a bunch of sex scenes.

This movie really didn't hold my attention at all. Found myself hitting the fifteen second button a lot. It just wasn't good. Also, I didn't exactly think the hidden camera he made was believable. Nobody wondered why there's a thick box with a mirror pointing exactly at them like 6 feet away? I guess not.

This definitely checks the "found footage" box for me although it wasn't clear how the footage was obtained or edited, more of implied that he had a breakdown. It just wasn't very good. It's interesting to see some elements of modern FF movies in this one, and I did enjoy that. I just doubt I would watch it again.

This has got to be one of my guilty pleasures. This film is not always easy to watch and the sound is something awful. However, it's painfully powerful to watch. Not only is Torn's character, Bill the Psychiatrist, literally coming apart, the bulk of the women who pass through his pseudo-office come love nest are almost to a one frayed at the edges. It it passes your way on the tube or else where, give it some attention.

Rip Torn is very good as Bill, a Psychiatrist whose life is literally "coming apart". And what's worse, he's filming it. Shot mostly from one static vantage point, the entire film takes place in a New York City high rise. We watch as Bill's life unfolds in front of us. His dysfunctional marriage, his trysts with women patients, and so on. Truly a fascinating little film, perhaps way before it's time, and unjustly ignored.

I was walking down the street in New York in the late 60's and I passed a small movie theater, one of many at that time, and posted on the marquee was "Coming Apart" starring Rip Torn. I thought that was pretty funny so I went in. From the very beginning to the end I was mesmerized by the screen. In a small dark theater the beginning is very disturbing, and the monologues and dialogs that followed were no different. This portrait of a man and his thoughts or experiences is a dark and sometimes brutal portrayal of his enclosed existence, seeing that the only reference we have visually is his apartment. I don't know what was more disturbing, his relationships or his thoughts. The movie flows from darkness to his little girl neighbor to Sally Kirkland bouncing on his knee to the incident with the drag queen and everything else in between to fade out. When I left the theater I was exhausted and disorientated. It is almost forty years later, I've never seen the film again, and I'm still struck by it. Seeing that film at that time and living in New York then is probably why the film had such an affect on me.