I just watched the new DVD with Heather on Friday. It was probably the 6th or 7th time I've seen it, and Heather's first. This new DVD (and I assume the new print) is a revelation.

You will not sleep through it, NA.

Some of the sound quality in the restoration is tragic. Lost to the ages. The picture is absolutely beautiful, but there were definitely some parts of the audio that they were unable to fully restore.

I am frankly astounded that anyone likes that film. IMO, a horrible collection of purely random garbage and infantile symbolism.

It all became clear to me after the film (alas, too late) when Bornieo explained the filmmaker's process in creating a work of purported "surrealism" was not to indulge in mind-altering substances, but rather to write under the influence of severe sleep deprivation.



I frelling hated it.

You were so right! I found this to be a fascinating film, visually incredible. Each shot was a beautiful composition filled with symbolism, homages and references. I had flashbacks of John Waters and Peter Greenaway (but, of course, this was done first). I was surprised there was actually a linear storyline throughout it all.

Instead, I fell asleep at several points.


Reverse chronology homages to Greenaway??! Another reason for me to have skipped it.

Same here. Especially after that opening scene, the rest of the movie was not at all what I expected. And I'm glad. While I love abstraction and surrealism, I personally prefer it to be tied to some sort of coherent message, rather than abstraction for abstraction's sake.

I too thought it was visually stunning, and while symbolically straight-forward still addressed some pretty interesting questions.

Please, PLEASE someone tell me what was the "coherent message" and what interesting questions did it address?



I'm not being either facetious or sarcastic here. I truly could not make out anything like a coherent or incoherent message of any kind, nor did I find any questions addressed, interesting or un.

Well, it started as a referendum on the christianity, the concept of forgiveness, and the commercialization of the church and Christ. It said, to me at least, "Y'all may be paying lip service to the whole bible thing, but the God in the bible is clearly not the God you're worshiping. So what DOES the god you're worshiping really look like?"

That brings it up to the point where Jesus scales the red tower. That's a bit of a transition point, the character definitely lost his identity as Jesus from there. I'll admit to being a bit lost as to what exactly was meant by the removing of that thing from him, perhaps simply a return to his mortal state, to re-experience this new world he was resurrected in. And then it became an exploration of the spiritual journey, of the concepts of meditation and higher consciousness, as well as throwing in some sarcastic social commentary for fun. And the message in the end was, while it's always important to open your eyes and mind to the reality that our earthly needs, wants, emotions, and desires are largely, if not entirely, of our own making, that it does not invalidate the human experience.

That's my read. It was obviously not a particularly literal storyline, and can certainly be seen in a very different light than I saw it in, but it had a very linear progression of events, following a single character through a pretty discrete journey.

I fell asleep just trying to read that.

I think I'll go with ISM's review on this one...

Mmmm, ok.


Points taken, GD.



But I still hated it.


Perhaps my expectations were clouded by anticipation of drug-influences, and not sleep-deprivation influences. Psychedelia was used in illustrations on all promotional materials (cyber and poster) by Cinespia .... and I was misled down the garden path. I'm not sure what sleep-deprivation visuals look like exactly, but there must be some distinction.

Heheh, during the pre-movie DJ set, we were remarking how the clear psychedelic influences of Pink Floyd were remarkably influenced in fact - not by psychedelics - but by alcoholics. I would expect a different sound from that kind of influence ... and certainly different poster art. :iSm:



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But hey, you can't beat The Haunting projected on a mausoleum wall in a cemetery. Next Week will be GREAT!