One of the worst movies I've seen
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Gloede_The_Saint — 17 years ago(November 02, 2008 04:16 AM)
I just saw it and I have to say it's one of the best films I have ever seen. Absolutely perfect!!!!
P.S. I'm Norwegian too. Nice to meet you.
Somebody here has been drinking and I'm sad to say it ain't me - Allan Francis Doyle -
NormaDesmond6 — 17 years ago(November 05, 2008 02:53 PM)
I love this movie too, it is sad and poignant in equal measures and looks fantastic, the production design and costume are first class. It breaks my heart every time I see it, I read that it was made on a very low budget which makes it a labour of love by the crew.
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ziggy_blues44 — 17 years ago(December 03, 2008 09:48 AM)
Yeah if you look at it like that it was really good. It's not their fault they didn't have spiderman special effects. I thought it was fun too watch and that's all that matters to me in a film. besides I've never seen a sex scene like the one with the gun. I was nervous and turned on at the same time.
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Aloft — 13 years ago(October 04, 2012 02:45 AM)
I realise this is years later. But one of the nice things about the Internet is that conversations can take that long.
However the Rip Torn sex scenes bothered the hell out of me, it was repeating a point that was already stated not more than 5-10 minutes before, while cutting away from the development of Bowie's character.
To me, these seemed to be emphasising something that Dr. Bryce says later on in some narration, about how much his life changed by working with WE. His primary vice is sapped away and he becomes focussed on this thing, this project. You pointed this out yourself, so basically I'm agreeing with you on this point. I think the repeated nature of the scenes, and in particular the overlapping of different women saying similar things or following a line of conversation in concert is just a device to show how promiscuous he was. It would be like showing a sequence of scenes about a drunk who gets himself together. You wouldn't just show one binge at the bar, that wouldn't get the point across. You'd show how this is a common problem with the guy and that he is addicted to burying his life in this vice.
I do not think you would disagree with that, so I feel that your only problem with this is that the man's vice involved something that impinges upon your comfort level.
And to answer why nudity (male and female) was necessary to the impact of the scenes, well the sex scenes were all interleaved with various other events going on. This was most effectively done with the first, where the sex was most vividly portrayed as being overly violent, interleaved with theatrical performance depicting a sword fight. It was, to me, a sort of comedic theatrical performance of human sex as seen from an outsider's point of view. This is a common mammalian trait (a point that was accentuated subtly in some of the nature shows Newton watched, where the male lion "love bites" the female lion on the neck).
It would be difficult to capture a caricature of human mating styles, as viewed by someone from another species, without nudity. I thought it was particularly interesting to show things that way, and then show the evolution of Newton's sex life as he increasingly "went native". In the end he was every bit as exaggeratedly violent as the now monk-like Bryce had been.
I was also perplexed as to why the nude swimming pool scene was included. I thought it was a very beautiful shot, but what purpose did it serve?
A demonstration of power. As he was enjoying a luxurious swim, the murders that he had ordered had been undertaken. I suppose, coming from someone who is decidedly not a prude (so take what I say as being a point of perspective rather than debate) I barely even noticed that anyone was nude in this shot at all. What I did notice was the clear demonstration of physical power, shown by a man who could dive into a pool, kick once to clear it, and then lift a grown women clear out of the pool onto the side, above his chest, so that she lands on her feet. It was such an impressive looking show of strength, and I'm positive that was meant to be directly compared with the political power being used to murder one of the most wealthy men in the world (and his lover). I suppose this could have been done with bathing suits on, but why? I see that question asked often by people who are annoyed or bothered by the depiction of the human form: why does this even need to be herebut I feel the same way, why do they need clothes or swimwear? What would be the reason for shooting this shot with swimwear? I can't think of one, outside of what I would consider to be antiquated socially induced fear of our own flesh. It seems perfectly natural to me to go swimming in the nude. Like I say, I don't wish this to be a point of debate, and I certainly do not mean to offend. I merely wish to offer a counter-perspective from someone who does not see things the way you do. Like I say, to me I barely even noticed the nudity in this shot. That wasn't the focus of it.
I think you might have a point with the analogy of falling to earth/falling into the pool. He did land in the lake after all. Combining this with my conception of the scene perhaps you could say that power, in a sense, comes from an efficient use of one's environment. Newton did not know how to fit into the environment, either biologically or socially and the power he did obtain from his inventions was a fickle sort, whereas the power this retired military man had attained was precisely the sort of lasting, strong influence that can only come from being born in, raised, and intelligent and lucky enough to manipulate the currents of life around you into pushing you to the surface of the pool of life.
At any rate, I would echo what noguano said below. The '70s era in film had a naturalist side to it that I miss in modern cinema. Back then a person could be shown sitting nude in their home reading a book, and that was just an honest depiction of what people do. There was -
Scarlett_Crimson — 10 years ago(December 05, 2015 06:54 PM)
Actually, "my girlfriend and I were baffled" is grammatically correct (no 'both' needed). If you're going to nitpick about grammar (which I do all the time) you should probably brush up on yours.
(And yes, I realize that by correcting the grammar of someone who asked us not to you were being a troll.) -
Billy_McAvoy — 16 years ago(June 30, 2009 09:10 AM)
So what's next on your agenda jacka$$? You going to trash Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights" for ineffective use of dialog? I mean where does it end?
By the Way; what does David Lynch have to do with this movie?
PS: I'm 1/2 Norwegian myself, it's not an excuse for idiocy.
Guess What S1m0ne! We have now entered an age where we can manufacture fraud faster than our ability to detect it -
Nick55419 — 16 years ago(July 10, 2009 01:28 AM)
David Lynch has nothing to do with this.. I hope since you posted this over a year ago you maybe have given the film a second chance????? Now that you know the premise, perhaps you will be able to see deeper into the film. Grasp new things you didn't see before? It is a great film. At least to some of us.
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fanaticita — 16 years ago(July 20, 2009 02:56 PM)
I thought David Bowie was exquisite. Every scene he was in I couldn't take my eyes off him for a second. I thought his acting was great. The movie was fantastic, really, but difficult to make sense of. Bowie's character came to earth to save his planet, but what exactly did he do? He built multi-billion dollar corporations to make money, but then what?
Also, was he stuck on earth at the end? It didn't seem like he was going anywhere. ???? Very mysterious. -
Huffman1 — 16 years ago(September 23, 2009 05:17 PM)
This is one of my favourite movies of all time; I gave it 10/10because there is no 11/10! I can understand that this is not everybody's cup of tea in terms of editing style (which has left many confused), but the acting was absolutely wonderful. David Bowie was perfect in his role; even if the scene where he takes off his human disguise were not included, we would still be convinced that he was an alien simply by his facial expressions and his way of speakingtotally unearthly. Candy Clark was also perfect in her role; her performance was one of the most natural I have ever seen. The cinematography was very beautiful, and I did love Roeg's visual style. As for the nudity, I thought it was pertinent to the story so it didn't bother me at all. I also loved the atmoshere created- there was a strong sense of mystery at the beginning and throughout, but which little by little translated into a sense of urgency and helplessness. The last scene was particularly striking; "I think Mr. Newton has had enough," was perfect, and very relevant not only to the story, of course, but also when referring to us in general (I suppose that for many of us, there comes a point where we cannot face the society conventions anymore, and we've just had enough of everything). As well, I think that the story has many dimensions; Of course, there is the objective story, but there are many themes, for example, the way that in society, anyone who is different in character, ideology, philosophy, etc from what is considered to be the norm is nearly always scorned at and treated as if he were crazy.
I don't want realism. I want magic!