Eraserhead: Dare to make Non-Sense.

Image from www.rogerebert.com

I have always considered myself a critic for the average joe. I don’t want to be the cinephile, touting film theory and other jargon over the heads of others. I want to fairly represent the normal person who goes to a movie theater to enjoy a film, get some popcorn, yada yada yada. So I will not, for this movie, be offering a vast interpretation of the strange symbolism I saw. Instead, I offer my repeated reaction to everything I saw:

(Image from adisin-beneathyourskin.blogspot.com.)

 

Does anyone know where the plot went...hello?

My best attempt at a summary is thus: Henry Spencer is a poor dork living in a bad apartment in the middle of a desolate industrial wasteland, who likes to make googly-eyes at his sexy neighbor and contemplate his navel (actually his radiator… which I’m told represents suicide, but I wouldn’t know). After watching him spit out a sperm from his mouth, courtesy of a man pulling levers (inside his brain, I think) we find that Henry’s girlfriend, Mary, is pregnant with a muppet reject  deformed, premature baby. They rush into a marriage, Mary leaves from lack of sleep, Henry steps up to be a dad… and then everything gets weird. Fast.

    In all seriousness, this film is presented pretty nicely. The surreal imagery we’re presented flows pretty smoothly from scene to scene, leaving the viewer to wonder if what they just saw was actuality or hallucinatory symbolism. The symbols themselves are certainly not boring, definitely thought-provoking, and shows that David Lynch is a very creative man. In short, I couldn’t pan this movie on execution even if I had wanted to.

    But, as creative and revolutionary as the execution is… the film is difficult to sit through.  The music-less atmosphere is thick, suffocating and uncomfortable, made only worse by a plethora of painful characters. Henry’s a social pariah, Mary is spineless, and her mother is so crazy she just ups and latches onto Henry’s neck in the middle of a dinner scene. And the moments when we see the strange hit the fan are borderline indecipherable, and usually fairly gross. It’s a lot to take in and I suspect the average person will be lost within five minutes.

    My biggest issue with this movie is that it is sloooow. The pacing goes at an uncomfortable, teeth-gnashing, painfully slow rate; what’s more, I think it’s on purpose. Sometimes these scenes meander on, way past when whatever point was made, and it leaves me clutching at my chair and begging Lynch to call ‘cut!’. The scene which gives the movie it’s title is such an example, as it goes on and on to make a point that could have been made in less than two minutes. Somehow, despite the actual storyline jumping around quite quickly, it feels like the film is dragging their feet. But, again, this was likely on purpose given how the film is classified as ‘horror’. 

    So my final verdict is mixed. If you are savvy to the way of films, adore the flicks that force you to think, and crave a movie that will leave you pondering for several days afterwards, then you have to get Eraserhead under your belt. It’s chock full of strange and provocative images that are begging for your personal interpretation, and gloating in the fact that you’re left clueless. As for those who aren’t looking for any of that, and went to the cinema to casually relax, than keep this one at an arm’s length. Much like Donnie Darko, this is not a film watched at the sleepover with popcorn and chocolate milkshakes.

    In fact I wouldn’t recommend eating at all...I ate popcorn...and regret my decision. So, in lieu of this, we’re going to aim for something that looks a bit more silly-awesome.

Next Film: SGT. Kabukiman, NYPD.

The Man Who Fell to Earth: Eyes Wide Shut

   

Image from Blogspot.com

You see this? Do you feel uncomfortable? You should, they were having sex ten seconds ago.

 I’m a day late, but I needed a moment to really collect my thoughts on this one. It was an experience that warranted more than a minute’s worth of meditation.

    Thomas Jerome Newton is a humanoid alien, come to earth to save his planet from a terrible drought. He quickly amasses a giant amount of money to fund the project, mystifying and entrancing the people who comes into contact with. But the vulnerable alien soon finds himself caught up in the web of trouble, addicted to Television, alcohol, and lost in a world of values and edifices that will do their best to drag him down. It’s a meditative piece about our world, caught up in it’s surrealist imagery and creative camera angles. If true art is truly incomprehensible, this is certainly the latter...I’m not sure about the former.

    The story itself is not my source of agitation. The idea is based off a novel by Walter Tevis, and actually as an interesting piece of science fiction. It’s not the first time we’ve postulated how our society would utterly wreck a being from another planet (won’t be the last) and it could be an interesting character study. The idea stands on it’s own just fine, and I’m actually considering going to find the book.

    What doesn’t work is the execution. The story, quite frankly, drags its feet for hours on end, while presenting an incomprehensible series of surreal images that were probably meant to be deep in some fashion. I was either bored, a movie quality to be downright sinful in cinema, or confused most of the time as the story attempted to unfold in front of me.

    When the film wasn’t boring, or just unintelligible, it was beset with awkward nudity. I have now seen all the naked David Bowie that I probably ever will, and found myself having the exact opposite response I expected. While I don’t expect all nudity to be portrayed as erotic, I certainly don’t expect it to be seen as so clumsy, awkward, and uncomfortable. It felt voyeuristic, likely the intention, but it made things incredibly uncomfortable. Besides, no one wants the naked coital couple to suddenly turn and look at the camera: the shame will never leave you.

    It’s all a shame, really, because the actors involved are quite good. David Bowie, as always, is stunning in his ability to portray incredibly complex characters as he did with Tommy. He’s so fragile, and yet mysterious and unnerving in his childish ways. Rip Torn as Bryce is an interesting study in both a mid-life crisis and a conflict of interesting. But all the good acting in the world can’t make up for an utterly sluggish pace, mixed-message metaphors, and a style that just leaves the audience far, far behind.

    In short, I found it mildly pretentious, incredibly awkward, and beyond confusing. I imagine someone who’s more knowledgeable in surrealist expression and ‘true art’ would likely know it better than me, but I gave up. That said, I can still recommend the movie to a select crowd of people. If you like out of your head experiences, deep philosophical musings, and have a taste for the bizzare, go for it at least once. Those looking for a fun, casual experience...try something else. So, overall, not for everybody, but not an abomination of cinema.

   

Next Film: The Stuff

Donnie Dark: The Stupid Man Suit.

Best Line in a movie, period.

By the way, this one is rated R: not for the kiddies.

So, summarize Donnie Darko...ho boy.

            It’s the 80s (again) and this high-class, stepford community is coexisting nicely...sans Donald Darko, whose mental instability, intimidating smarts and misanthropic attitude have made him a social pariah. One night, after another fight with his mother, Donnie is called back out to do his sleep walking by a strange voice. It comes from a giant rabbit (rabbit suit, but still,) who tells him the world is going to end in about 28 days. Moments later, a jet-engine crashes into Donnie’s room. He’s saved, but this is only the beginning. As Donnie is forced (I think?) to do the rabbit man’s bidding, and watch his world break apart at the seams. As to how, or why it’s breaking, you’re better off asking someone else. I freely admit that, even after my third watch, I am still not smart enough to fully understand what’s going on.

            It’s liberating to admit, really.

            Confusing as the story is for me, everything else melds together well. The music and overall sound effects help create this feeling of being detached from the ‘perfect world’ we’re thrust into, likely letting us see it from our own heroes perspective. Even more interesting, that music and sound also helps us shift into a mood that’s darker towards the end of the film as everything slowly begins to crack. Overall, combined with the free-form camera angles, everything just feels off, somehow. It clashes with the white-class suburbia, and I ate up every bit of it.

            With our disorienting atmosphere comes out mostly-realistic characters. Most of them are interesting because they take a different approach to the rich-kids. Instead of being high-class cast-outs who listen only to mozart and such, we got teenage boys shooting glass bottles in a junkyard while running my childhood with the smurfs. It’s more natural to play these guys like true teens with access to better toys, but it also backfires by making them some of the most unlikeable people you will ever meet.  I hated Donnie’s friends for being utterly useless, for what they did to Smurfette, but mostly just for being colossal crap-heads.

            However, there lies one exception to all of this: Donnie. I am forever fascinated with Donnie, even if he is a jerk to his mother.  He’s obviously not a bad kid, as he won’t steal or hurt anyone of his own free will, and yet he’s clearly suffering from some severe mental issues in a society that just doesn’t know what to do with him. Add this utterly crazy and confusing series of events to that list of problems and it becomes insanely hard not to feel for the kid. Besides, he’s also insanely smart, and drops some of the most well-timed F-bombs in cinema history. 

For Example:

So, obviously, I really liked Donnie. I liked him so much that I wish he had been the center of attention more often than he actually was. This movie has quite a few subplots with the Jim Cunningham plot, the deal with Donnie’s girlfriend, and a few others. Now none of them are badly written, and they do all merge together in the end, but I just wish they had backed off just a little. I want more of Frank the Bunny’s influence over Donnie, not how much that stick-up-her-butt teacher has a hard-on for Jim Cunningham or how forced the romance between Gretchen and Donnie feels (sorry, I just didn’t feel it).  Maybe we would have gotten a straighter answer if we had spent more time with Frank and Donnie and less with with poor Churita getting picked on for her bad accent.

Ah, but this of course leads to the elephant in the room: the ending. Leaving out spoilers, I have to say that my confusion over what happened didn’t take away from how bloody well filmed the whole thing is. While I’m still scratching my head over the exact details, I was treated to a well filmed slow-pan shot with an absolutely heart-breaking rendition of Mad World playing in the background. It’s dark and tragic, two words that fit with the whole rest of the movie.

So, in short, this is worth a watch, but not casually. If you don’t want to think too much than don’t pop this one in, as you’ll be left behind very fast. However, if you’re willing to keep sharp and know a bit more about the theory of time-travel than I do, than you’re in for a treat. Enjoy the awesome 80s music, black sense of humor, and the sheer anxiety of watching the world come to an end thanks to the world’s most famous’ wtf’ movie made so far.

Now we’ve done aliens, Vampires, pretty men in tights, moon people, and depressed 30-somethings with no lives….

How about something Sweet?

Next Film: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.