mobia

A late film by Wojciech Has (Saragossa Manuscript, The Sandglass) has fine visual detail the director is known for. The opening scene, depicting the exhuming of a corpse who revives to tell the film's story, is utterly masterful as are many of the following scenes particularly toward the end. The long center section, concerned with moral issues of good and evil often get bogged down in static philosophical dialog. Still, the later scenes are worth waiting for.

Made over a number of years (at least 5), this film delves into the nature of virtual reality. While the topic was hot and novel when Ms. Obscura began the project, by 1999 many films had been released on this concept. Still her satiric campy take on the world of computer image addicts still packs some surprises and constantly dazzles the eyes with wild and colorful collages amid the black and white "real" world.

The story involves a strange woman with an odd accent (Hundee) who, after losing her boyfriend, seeks a virtual reality substitute (a "man chip" as she calls it). This pursuit leads her into the prurient world of image addicts who rely on chip pushers (the drug metaphor is obvious). For those acquainted with the San Francisco underground, there are many cameos by such luminaries as The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Jello Biafra and Elvis Herselvis. Beth Custer provides a bluesy score.

Though I was more impressed with this movie when it had it's theatrical debut in the early 1980s, I still recommend this mysterious mood piece. The story concerns a quiet middle aged woman (Julie Christie) living alone during some catastrophic breakdown of modern society. Young illiterate kids live like rats in the subways, garbage covers the streets and nomadic people scavenge in aimless traveling groups. The woman is given a young teenage girl (Leonie Mellinger) to take care of and the girl becomes sexually involved with a young man who takes on the task of caring for homeless children (while he simultaneously sleeps with them). Alongside this melancholic tale, there's another dimension revealed when the woman discovers a Victorian family living inside a strange membranous wall of her apartment. There are curious psychological parallels between the world in the wall and the goings-on in the woman's other dystopia world. The final scenes are truly weird and puzzling so if you like your movies straightforward with tidy narratives, this one isn't for you. For those who enjoy the bizarre and challenging, take a look. My only real criticism is the truly awful synth soundtrack (by Mike Thorne?any relation to Ken?) which constantly works against the imagery.