NIGHT GAMES — SHOCKTOBER!

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Mai Zetterling began her film career acting in Ingmar Bergman's "Torment" (1944), before switching from acting to directing after moving from Sweden to London to pursue her craft.

With "Night Games" (1966), which she co-wrote with her then husband, British novelist David Hughes, Mai Zetterling matches Bergman's filmic sophistication on every level of filmic storytelling.

This is filmmaking at its finest.

This thoroughly original work of social satire delves into the heart of childhood traumas, while taking sharp aim at '60s era European sensibilities around free-love and the narcissistic values of the bourgeoisie. 

Jan (Keve Hjelm) brings his fiancée Mariana (Lena Brundin) to his childhood home, a wealthy mansion estate full of horrific memories and rich furnishings. Jan indoctrinates Mariana into his debauched upbringing. Flashback sequences detail the atrocious actions of Jan's mentally unstable mother Irene (Ingrid Thulin).

Freud's oedipal complex takes center stage in Jan's ambitious attempt at reconciling sins of the mother by annihilating all that her sexual abuse and wealth had created.

Jörgen Lindström, the young actor from Ingmar Bergman's "The Silence," and "Persona," is the film's empathetic center as Jan's boyhood version.

"Night Games" retains its ability to shock viewers after over 50 years due to Mai Zetterling's intuitive ability to dig equally into the male and female psyche, while keeping a pure artistic metaphoric vision. This is the gift of liberation that Mai Zetterling gives her audience.

At last Jan and Mariana are set free to grow their relationship in fresh soil.

Amen.

Side note: If I'm not mistaken, "Night Games" is John Waters's favorite film!

Not Rated. 105 mins.

HOUR OF THE WOLF — SHOCKTOBER!

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Ingmar Bergman's haunting 1968 psychological thriller is, at heart, a bold reflection on the lasting effects of childhood abuse.

Filmed on the island of Fårö, Bergman announces the minimalist movie with a flourish of self-referential artistic expression to set up the bizarre narrative that follows.

Sounds of its stage set being built, under the conversation of a film crew, give way to, "Camera."

"Action."

Liv Ullmann speaks directly to the camera as Alma. She speaks of revelations she has discovered from reading her husband's diary.

Alma has given birth to a child on this lonely, desolate island. Her beloved artist husband Johan (Max von Sydow) has vanished.

Suicide perhaps. A victim of murder? We may never know.

The couple have come to the island for Johan to paint. Their love is strong, but ghosts from Johan's past haunt him. Johan's place in the world as an artist reveal subtexts of Ingmar Bergman's own self identity.

Johan is unable to find peaceful sleep in the couple's cold water cottage.

Dreams and nightmares blur with harsh reality.

Suspicion and regret hang in the air.

A dinner invitation by a coven of insulting aristocrats inhabiting a 14th century castle, leads to an explosion of social anxiety for Johan. Are the blue-bloods real, or merely composite figures from Johan's troubled imagination?

A quote from "Rosemary's Baby" springs to mind.

"Witches, all of them witches."

The subconscious and conscious minds of our lonely couple reveal cracks that all married couples experience.

Only we, the audience, can decide where the truth lies — that will take time.

Impeccably conceived and executed, "Hour of the Wolf" is an eloquent thing of cinematic perfection. Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann provide stunning performances.

What is this nightmare called love?

Not Rated. 87 mins.

TRIANGLE OF SADNESS — THE CRITERION COLLECTION

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Ruben Östlund's spotty social satire about smartphone-driven influencers goes on a "Gilligan's Island" styled trajectory.

"Gilligan's Island" holds up as a better example of the left roasting right-wing capitalist pigs, whose greed knows no sliver of human decency.

Ego, ego, ego.

Money, money, money.

Dirty, dirty, dirty.

The film's sadness comes in the form of a third act failure that dashes all hopes for the narrative to rise to its promised elevation.

Punchy dialogue keeps you on the hook, but the story evaporates with a ghost-in-the-machine tableau that just makes no sense.

Stupido.

Woody Harrelson nevertheless delivers a kick of comedy as Captain to a ship cruise carrying a mixed bag of social classes. Mr. Harrelson is indeed a proper Captain host to the movie.

If only Harrelson's character had more to do.

Check out "Don't Look Up" if you're looking for smart, sharp, and funny social satire.

Sad this movie didn't pay off on its promise.

Clunk.

Rated R. 147 mins.