Cristi_Ciopron
For a movie attempting at a chilling, twisted originality, 'The Pyx' plays straight some standard features—the nudity (Elizabeth's ass, Jane's perky tits), the religious items. The same approach, on testosterone, will result in 'Angel Heart', some 15 yrs later.In 'Angel Heart', a guy—not a policeman—investigates, and the corpses start piling up.In 'The Pyx', Plummer sketches gently the policeman he's playing—low—keyed, inconspicuous, nonchalant, yet macho and tough; anyway, Plummer is good, and effortlessly intriguing. As a storytelling, 'The Pyx' is a masterwork of non—linear classicism; and I believe this screwed storytelling narrows the plot, it narrows the plot severely, almost incredibly much, enhancing in exchange the oppressive atmosphere. The director focused on the storytelling's virtuosity, with rather typical '70s emphasis on experimentalism. But the outburst of violence barely squares with the vagueness of the story, and it seems unconvincing to leave it so wholly unexplained, as if the core was hollow; we should know more about Keerson's mind (Keerson is played _lispingly by Roux, a quite ridiculous lisping, withered villain), and why does he begin so resolutely a hopeless battle with the police, plus signing the scenes with gory inverted crosses, etc.. This movie is original, interesting, intriguing and flawed.The plot is quite meager, underdeveloped—sketchy, if you will—more like a pattern of hints, ultimately unsatisfactory. I mean, 'The Pyx' doesn't deserve its reputation of the movie of the Satanism; it could of been, it missed. The truth is, the movie, the script doesn't really enter the world of the drug addicts, of the _occultists, etc., Montreal's underworlds. It merely hints at those. And the action was too hurried for the confrontation between the policeman and the blasphemer not to look way too contrived and _malapropos; they are exchanging comic books lines, as if they would of fight off since forever. That kind of highly dramatic showdown would of required a longer succession of events in the police's investigation—not a mere day ….But then again, one must acknowledge the movie's attempt at some sound theology—the prostitute refused to confess, yet she protects the host, which means she's herself worthy of receiving, and not desecrating it by unworthy communion—she becomes herself a host, adding her sacrifice to that she benefits from.Every masterpiece (which 'The Pyx' isn't), or at least intensely original work, is a standalone; nonetheless, 'The Pyx' is a chance to find out about Montreal, the novelist Buell, or Plummer, whose career reminds me of Hackman—both, good actors who have been, for a while, in good movies. Plummer resembles a smart priest, he has this sharply intelligent clerical air; more of a genuinely priestly type than, say, V. Sydow.Karen, a remarkably gifted actress, was the very feminine, bitchy, wry type—here, in the role of a messed up woman. An American actress, she was 33 yrs when shooting this movie. She is a Scientologist, four times married, and essentially a '70s actress.She sings a few tunes, Ethereal Wave, or ethereal goth, though by the early '70s none would have called them that, that have been justly remarked. Her songs are of the classy folk type, tentatively anticipating Dead Can Dance and Cocteau Twins—and significantly contemporary with Cohen's crooked folk.Original and well—meaning, adorned, studded with thoughtful imagery, 'The Pyx' chooses the impressionistic haze of the early '70s, over the relevance of 'Cruising's descent into Hell; the synopsis of 'The Pyx' promises a descent into the underworld, which this movie _ain't—but a minutely sketched pattern of disturbing images, and veiled hints at a sickly world one would of liked to find more about. Such as it is, it surely _ain't one of the naturalistic descents into the Hell of some nastiness; and here is also its originality and even beauty of sorts.Plummer plays a sharp, focused cop; one of his better roles.Daddy Plummer must have been the most affordable supporting actor ever—since it looks like everyone could afford him for supporting roles—since The Fall of the Roman Empire, The Night of the Generals, Battle of Britain, Waterloo, until Malcolm X, Wolf, 12 Monkeys, The Insider, A Beautiful Mind, Alexander—an interesting physiognomy, not much of an actor—not with contemporaries like Hackman, and squashed between the generation of Newman, and those of O'Toole, Nicholson, etc.; Plummer was 2 yrs older than Barray. The stage demands less _expressivity. So 'The Pyx' is one in a handful of leading roles made by Plummer; as demeanor, he resembled a bit Harrison.
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This is a somewhat infamous (if mainly because Karen Black appears in see-through lingerie) Montreal-lensed early 1970s flick that has been floating around in various poor-quality DVD versions for some time. I just rented the new Trinity Home Entertainment release. The good news is that the film is now on DVD in its proper widescreen aspect ratio, but there are two bits of bad news. One, the print of the film that Trinity used for their DVD is horrible. It has various splices, scratches, and the color is bad. The second problem is more insurmountable--this just isn't a very good film.Although The Pyx (aka "The Hooker Cult Murders") is correctly considered partially a horror film (because of material in the last 15 minutes or so), the bulk of the film is crime/drama, and it leans towards the "police procedural" subgenre of crime. There is some stuff here about hookers and drugs, and some violence/aftermath-gore, but this kind of material is very sparse and very tame. I could only recommend the film to Karen Black fanatics/fetishists, fans of early 1970s uneventful crime/dramas (if indeed anyone fits that description) and anyone who would like to see a depressing early 1970s semi-urban grunge captured on film, as that's the atmosphere director Harvey Hart manages to evoke (ironically aided by the crappy print). That the film was made in Montreal is evidenced by the periodic forays into French dialogue, which isn't subtitled, but it's infrequent enough that it's not a problem if you can't understand French.The story, based on a novel by John Buell, concerns a prostitute, Elizabeth Lucy (Black), who is found dead after a drop off of a high-rise. She is clad only in lingerie, wearing an upside down cross and holding a pyx--a small, metal container used in Catholicism to bring consecrated hosts ("hosts" are the symbolic pieces of bread used in the Eucharist, or sacrament) to the sick. Jim Henderson (Christopher Plummer) is the police sergeant who ends up investigating the case. The film continually bounces back and forth from Henderson's investigation, which involves the more visceral crime scenes, as infrequently as those occur, and flashbacks to Lucy's immediate past, which involves more of the "sex" and drugs material, as infrequently as that occurs. The crux is that both Lucy's immediate past and Henderson's investigation are leading to the same climax--Lucy is moving forward in time while Henderson is roughly working his way back.The principal problem with The Pyx is that it is so bland. It is also plagued with minor gaffes, like editing problems (and no, those aren't all just bad splices). Hart and screenwriter Robert Schlitt both come from a television background, but the pacing and momentum here are sub par even for a made-for-television film.The scenes of Lucy with a smarmy client, preparing smack (heroin), having problems with her employer (a madam), arguing with her roommate (the source of the sometimes advertised "homosexual" angle--her roommate is a gay male) about whether she wants dinner and so on just aren't that interesting (even though some of the subject matter seems to have potential). There are also a number of transition scenes featuring actions like driving, walking and such that are so banal that it's almost impossible to keep one's attention on the screen--there was one scene I must have rewound three or four times, but I could never help myself from drifting. There are also a number of roughly directed scenes such as one between Henderson and the gay roommate that is just long shots of them walking city streets, sometimes with vehicles driving by and blocking the frame, where they do not appear to be talking to each other in the image, but where their voices are dubbed on the soundtrack. The Pyx is no paragon of direction or cinematography (or acting, editing, or anything else for that matter).The police procedural stuff featuring Henderson was a bit better, but as soon as Hart would increase the intensity level just a smidgen (as with the scenario that Henderson walks into in the madam's apartment), he'd quickly return to boring flashback sequences, or someone would be driving for five minutes or something. To make matters worse, these occasional intensity increases tend to be prematurely lopped off with poor editing. Also, some of the police procedural stuff was very oddball--like the scene where they start playing a Gregorian chant on a reel-to-reel for a suspect in an interrogation room. But I like oddball stuff, so that was a bonus to me.The final, "double climax"--we first get something of a thriller "false ending" before we move more into horror territory--was one of the better sections of the film, but by the time it arrives (it takes about an hour and fifteen minutes) it's difficult to get very excited about it. Still, it was enough to save The Pyx from an F (a rating of 5 or below).Finally, the music deserves comment. It is fairly bizarre throughout, if not necessarily because of the music itself, because of the way it is contextualized. The main body of the film features a few songs by none other than Karen Black. These are extremely dated, quirky folk/religious songs, which, while not exactly poorly done, are severely out of place. The music in the climax is more stereotypical "Gothic Horror" classical, but it has a bizarre choir melody that sounds like a very primitive example of sampling (maybe it was done on a Mellotron, since proper samplers did not yet exist when The Pyx was made; the Mellotron was a kind of early faux "sampler" keyboard that utilized loops of tape). The timbre of the choir changes as much as the pitch, giving a "Satanic" flavor to the piece that just borders on--and occasionally crosses into--the sublimely ridiculous, making the climax unintentionally funny at times. Again, I liked the oddity of it, if only the film weren't so bland otherwise.
