2010 sci-fi thriller
Rating: 15/20
Plot: A woman tries to leave some sort of research facility where a guy who may or may not have hair experiments on her.
If this movie’s a complete failure, it’s at least a very interesting complete failure. This is really moody, surreal, and strange, and folks who prefer their science fiction dramas to actually, you know, make damn sense should probably not bother. It’s visually entrancing, and it’s paced like one of the goals of Panos Cosmatos was to hypnotize you. Panos, by the way, was the son of a guy who directed at least one Rambo movie, and this is about as far from Rambo as you can possibly get. There are some characters in a later scene in this movie who look like they would enjoy a Rambo movie though. They’re listening to a band called Notorious Anus, or at least I think that’s what it said on the cassette. Cassette! One of them–Skinny Hesher, played by Gerry South–needs to be the main character in a prequel. Any character who says “Who’d want that two-inch blood bat?” (almost makes sense in context) and “Fuck, my left ball hurts a little” and almost nothing else before being whacked is a good character in my book. There are some other odd, almost funny moments that seemed to clash with the starkness and general malaise. Another line–“Bring home the motherlode, Barry.”–actually made me giggle, and I also laughed at the way the antagonist said, “The Devil’s Teardrop.” It was just so goofy. Or this sequence:
Barry’s wife: What are you dong?
Barry: [mumbles}
Then–appliances!
I’m sorry I put that there. It doesn’t make any sense without the context. It barely makes sense in context!
Oh, and a scene where Barry is driving, turns and sees himself with the “appliances” and says, “You are doing so good.” It’s hard during some of this to not see this as a comedy actually. But it really isn’t. The creepiness is very artificial but palpable. It’s creepy visually, and it’s creepy sonically. The score is by Sinfonia Caves, all moogy and mysterious and foreboding. Everything’s fucking grainy, like Eraserhead or Begotten rubbed all over it, and the whole thing, with its Tron lights and Arboria infomercial that starts the movie (a scene that hooked me instantly because of the doctor’s hairstyle), and all the washed-out blues and reds. The color’s off-putting. Or maybe it’s the lack of color in a lot of scenes that is off-putting. But it’s all off-putting in a good way, at least if you’re attracted to off-putting works of art. This is definitely a movie I’m glad I watched (on Josh’s recommendation, by the way), but it’s definitely the type of thing you have to be in the mood for. It’s almost too abstract, kind of like Under the Skin, and therefore very difficult. And there are references to Reagan which, along with a scene where a Speak and Spell calls Barry, makes it even more 80s-ish. And makes me wonder what is going on thematically. I think Reagan’s important, but I’m just not real sure how.
Also–there’s a William S. Burroughs allusion that made me smile.
I think I’d like to see this one again, but not for a while.