Diary Of A Lost Girl

Pabst, with Brooks, again 1929
Since the six months ago 'Pandora's Box', Pabst has started moving his camera (but not compromising on his idiosyncratic framing). He incorporates his style with a good few tracks and some very fast pans. We also noted here how often in his SRS schema's Pabst breaks the line; though this isn't disorientating, as the usual stillness and over-the-shoulder bring in a lot of redundancy. The soft style is also occasionally mixed in with some harder depth.
Visually, the squares of colour are again evident, often blocks of all one shade. Pabst should also not be considered unexpressive; misty shadows, shapes and startling compostions are a feature of the heavily stylised institution Brooks ends up at.
Again, we have a speedy opening narrative and shot length-wise, which settles down, spurting again on a few occassions. All of this is within reasonably classical norms, excepting that Brooks is usually controlled from the outside, not motivating herself. She is chucked about constantly, though we wish their wasn't the subtext (which may be my fault) that she's to blame. Brooks again transforms constantly. She often has paler sotumes than the others (or all black), and really exposes out in these scenes.
We have deep eroticism and mania within the stuff, inclosed bourgeois interiors, indeed all the interiors and institutions (the freest is the brothel). This is editing through editing speed, move to closer shots, and some straight symbolism. The places are all either male or female dominated; no relation between the sexes seems possbile except sexually, and manically at that (indeed, one could say between anyone). Pabst's direction, and his characters, look deeply uncomfortable on the occasional move outside; Pabst's world is too eaxct, their is little contingency or the possbility of a cow wandering off.
This is at times a powerful scene; Pabst has some remarkable closse-ups, timed wonderfully, coming very, very close. I would argue it is better executed, while sharing much visually, than 'Pandora's Box'.