The Blot

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Nick M Dec 31 My God, I love Lois Weber. I can't say whether this is my favorite of her films that I've seen because I have loved quite a few (e.g. Suspense, 1913; Hypocrites, 1915; Shoes, 1916), but I can say that this is her most mature, most fully realized film to date. She almost always makes social commentary pictures, and this is no exception. But social commentary doesn't capture what she does. Her stories connect us with those aspects of life that are inherently important. In short, they are human. Starkly, warmly, compellingly human. The Blot introduces us to a college professor and his family who are struggling to get by on his meager salary while their neighbors, the family of an upmarket shoe maker, are living high on the hog. It's refreshingly told largely from the perspective of the women of both families, allowing us access into their inner emotional worlds through the restrained dignity of their body language and the gravity of their unspoken feelings. There are no epic twists of fate, no whirlwinds of fortune or dramatic action sequences. Rather, the plot of this narrative turns on more prosaic imagery: the silent humiliation over the woeful offerings on a tea tray, a snag in a threadbare carpet, and such anguish as can be caused by a malicious display of asparagus on a window sill. Margaret McWade, who plays the wife of the professor, is the star of this production. Few writers create female parts as nuanced and complex as Weber, and fewer still breathe such life into non-ingenue roles, and McWade takes full advantage of the opportunity. There is quiet symbolism throughout the picture (Weber was a pioneer of cinematic storytelling in the previous decade, and it's beautiful to see that she is continuing to innovate) but my favorite scene is of a doleful Margaret McWade, dressed dourly in her dark kitchen. She looks out her shabby window and bitterly watches her neighbor preparing a hearty meal in her bright-toned kitchen. We see the neighbor, full of vitality and close to the camera, which is positioned so that Margaret is visible in just a small frame through the open window, far away, dark, and as still as an old, forgotten portrait. For all of that, the film is so unassuming that I almost didn't realize until after I began writing about it that I'd just enjoyed a masterpiece. See more 01/01/2013 Perceptive look at class warfare in the USA. See more 06/03/2012 a social movie from the woman who made 400 movies of which this and a hand full of others atre all that exhilsts. See more 04/17/2012 The romance here is quite average for a movie like this. The actors are average too, no one really stood out for me. Overall an okay movie, not bad but not good either. See more 12/29/2008 A confusing movie due to it's lack of to identify whose story it is. More about making a bland point than telling a good story. See more 10/29/2008 One of the most boring films I've ever seen! See more Read all reviews

The Blot

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