To say The Seventh Victim leaves a lot to the imagination would be misleading. It certainly leaves out information we can sense would be relevant, but it also leaves in details that activate and guide the imagination. It’s only 71 minutes long because it’s a film of few words, keeping things condensed. One character commands another, “drink your milk”, sounding exasperated for no clear reason. One character sees another and her expression immediately changes, restrained but showing confusion and dread. These two scenes can easily be linked and speculated upon, but the film gives us little more directly.
While we’re left to infer what relationships the characters have lived through, what we mainly see for the first half of the film is their work and their living arrangements. During the daytime, New York City seems normal. At night, it changes. Places that have clear purposes during the day empty out and gain new and terrible possibilities. There’s no telling what will emerge from the shadows.
These facets of the film, the way it furtively points toward histories that are never shared and the way it looks when no one is meant to be looking, lay bare the ignorance of its would-be heroes. They’re confident and expert, but ultimately fail to grasp something crucial. Exactly what that is is left unspoken.
When the film finally stops hiding its antagonists, what they do is horrific. However, it’s difficult to perceive, even when it’s shown right in front of us. To really appreciate it, you have to think about what it must be like.
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