Black Moon

It's a war-torn world in some sort of war between the sexes. Lily barely escapes a male military squad and finds a mysterious community living in a country mansion. They have lots of animals, lots of naked children, and an unicorn. There are a beautiful man, a pretty woman, and a bed-ridden old lady who seems to be their leader.

This is an experimental sci-fi film from French director Louis Malle. It's a lot of weirdness. I'm not sure about anything in this film. Lead actress Cathryn Harrison is not really acting as much as just existing in this weird world. She's very pretty but her range is somewhat limit. She is either a pissed off teen or a tensive teen and she alternates between the two. I don't know what else to say about this. I wish I knew the point Louis Malle is trying to make.

It played here in Berkeley in the late 1970's at the repertory UC Theatre (now defunct of course), I saw it in Cologne in 1976, but it doesn't seem to have been picked up by any US distributor and it is not and has never been available on VHS, Laserdisc, or DVD anywhere in the world, AFAIK. And I have never seen it on cable tv (Sundance, IFC, you listening?).

A neo-surrealistic fantasy, it was promoted in newspaper ads in Germany as The Movie Where Animals Talk to People!

Weird and wonderful from beginning to end, IMHO. An old woman sitting at her kitchen table talking to a rat sitting on it. An 8 year old or so boy and girl playing in the yard and suddenly breaking into the complete love duet from Tristan & Isolde. Joe Dallesandro of Andy Warhol/Paul Morrisey movies, and lots more. I can't remember it very well at this point, it's been a quarter of a century since I saw it.

The number one film on my want list.

Imagine, if you will, that someone had taken all the brain-damaged noodlings of softcore pornographers and decided to make a movie of them, omitting all the nudity and sex. You'd have something about as stupid as this movie. On film, it's a waste of celluloid, on DVD, it's a waste of silicon, on cable, it's a waste of bandwidth. In whatever medium it's a waste of your time. And nothing more.

This is, in short, exactly the sort of film that gives European filmmakers bad reputations, and which makes film buffs look stupid when they try to maintain that it's not a brain-dead collection of semi-arresting images. Fans of this film describe it as a metaphor, an allegory, a symbolic representation of something else. But like Burbank, there is no there there in this film. It probably has something to do with coming of age, but the "something" it has to "do" with is so blurry that it's just not worth the bother of bringing it into focus.

The film does have one redeeming feature: it makes you feel like going out and doing something useful in the world to make up for the 100 minutes you totally wasted watching it. Also, you probably didn't commit any felonies while watching it. And when not committing a felony while watching it is a film's major justification, you know it has to suck beyond belief.

This movie is a version of the Alice in Wonderland story about a young innocent who finds herself in a world of odd characters and behaviors. It did not have a clear A to Z story line that I could follow. It seemed to me that it's just what's happening at the moment that matters. It is best viewed as a dream or even madness; this way, when nothing makes sense (and it never does), you have a logical explanation.

I was balanced precariously on the edge of consciousness while watching this thing; slipping in and out momentarily at times. However, half way through, I managed to stay focused. I have to confess though that the piano scene threatened to send me under again.

Finally, I couldn't say that I liked this movie, but at the same time I couldn't say I particularly disliked it either (I would have slept thru the whole thing if I did). so I'm giving it a "middle-score" of 5 stars. If you are into films that are offbeat, quirky, symbolic, -then who knows? This one might be to your taste. The rest of you-- well, you might want to save this movie for a sleepless night. Your "secret weapon", as it were. If nothing else gets you, the piano scene towards the end will deliver the knockout punch you need. Guaranteed! Happy dreams! Love, boloxxxi.

Weird movie by Louis Malle, Which was filmed at Malle's own Manor, with Joe Dallesandro acting in his first (and only), non speaking role, Playing the brother of a twin sister. The film starts off with a girl, played by Cathryn Harrisson (Actor Rex Harrison's granddaughter, who was only 16), driving in her car in the dark and runs over some kind of beaver or something, later on down the road she encounters a road-block, put up by men with army suits and gas masks. The men in masks with machine guns mow down about 6 women in plain view of her. One of the guys in the masks starts approaching her car, she's dressed like a guy with a hat and her long hair tucked underneath it. The guy in the mask pulls off her hat and her long blonde hair streams out, alarmed, she suddenly pins the gas and gets away. Later she encounters men in more masks killing more women, and things get even weirder from here. Almost too weird. The movie no doubt, has a very surreal tone to it, very ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Trying to comprehend what really this movie is about is impossible. Only Louis Malle knows what king of message this movie was intended to give. And that just suits me just fine, because I find the imagery of the different scenes and various characters keep me occupied through-out the film, and interpretations are mixed with each time I watch it.