I Awaken Wearing Soiled Underpants
Why hasn't this mug updated this movie review blog that two people read?
This is the first question to pop into those persons head and the following questions are the ones I speculate as coming after:
Is he busy?
Is he dead?
Is he even alive?
Is he just doing his own thang?
Did Mr. Stallone put him in a choke-hold that put him into a coma for a few weeks?
Most likely all of the above is true but the biggest trouble I had to face was the fact that the video store that I rent movies from is now closed. I cried. Then drank. Then when I sobered up and had to face the reality that the video store I adored was closing, I turned to drink some more but then after guzzling down two or three bottles of Mad Dog 20/20, a realization came to me.
A real kick to the nuts this relief was. And going on the drink for a time then receiving a hit in the nuts like this…you sober up rather quick as the tears start falling and possibly, most likely if you’re drinking MD 20/20, throw up. Once I threw up and caught a whiff of fresh air after raising my head away from the stench of that red puke…I was relieved my friends.
How can I have such relief through such heartbreak, you might not be asking?
I realized right then that I had seen just about every decent movie that place had to offer. Except of course for Collision Course.
Never got around to watching that nor was I able to find a copy of the Disney classic Blood In Blood Out to buy. Other than that though, the store will always have a place in my heart.
Getting me through some bad times and helping the good times shine even more and well, just being there for most of the time. Rest in Peace Star Video. As a token of gratitude for being a loyal customer, I was given this sign. I will cherish it always.
What is there to do now? Well, I figure that I have a decent amount of movies collecting dust so why not just get to reviewing what catches the interest and then review anything new that comes along my way. The difference being that NEW isn't going to be new releases but instead films that I never seen before and with that rule in place, the first movie to come my way as NEW is the 1980's flick Possession.
But first I must ask the question: What is POSSESSION?
I don't have a fucking clue besides knowing that it stars Sam Neal, Dinosaur Man from Jurassic Park, and Isabelle Adjani, The Player from The Driver, that’s about it. So how does a film I know nothing about come along my way? Interestingly enough, I saw it in another movie.
The Journey Begins
I'm a fan of Gaspar Noe. First question that comes to mind to most that will read that is Who? Then I will say one of his films. Something like…
Irreversible.
Maybe most of you haven't seen it and can't really react and maybe a few of you will say
How the fuck can you like that movie?
Interestingly enough, a woman stopped talking to me when I mentioned that I liked that movie. Dating sure is tough these days. To the former still wanting to know who he is, I'll say another title from his filmography like…
Enter the Void.
Again, most must have not seen it and some may have seen it and think
How the fuck can you even bother with that movie?
As those 2 films are the most well known of his films then I'm sorry to say to the uninitiated…you are missing out. But if you do have an interest then you should definitely check out the two previously mentioned films then if you dig those then most definitely check out I Stand Alone.
Highly recommend that one. I haven't had a chance to see Love so I can't say this or that about it but if those two people reading have seen then leave an opinion. There might be some other films I’m missing since I haven’t seen his entire filmography but you know…in due time my friends.
Anyways, I'm a fan of Gaspar Noe’s films but I haven't really kept up with what he's been making so what a surprise to see that his most recent film was one that I missed completely
Climax.
A supposed based on a true story regarding a dance troupe in the 90’s that accidental drank LSD spiked Sangria one winter night and the chaos that ensued when they all started tripping out.
What a film. I could go on and on about this roller coaster of a movie, and probably go on rambling concerning his other movies but at the moment this is not the film I had in mind. Though after watching it about 5 times now I can definitely recommend it.
The Journey Continues
The film starts off, Climax is still the topic at the moment, with the end of the film and there’s a real cool fake out credit roll where it dedicates the film to all the makers and creators that have passed away. Its a real nice shout out and then the movie starts FOR REALS.
Dancers are being interviewed and their footage is being played on an old CRT television and to the right of the TV are VHS tapes. To the left are book titles but I can’t read French so I can’t get as excited as I can for stacked VHS tapes. Most of the tapes that are shown are some that I have seen, Labyrinth Man being a pretty cool alternate title for Eraserhead, and a few that have already made their way to a nearly hundred miles long need to watch list that plagues my brain. For some reason though the one VHS tape that sticks out is Possession. I have never heard of it and so my interest is piqued.
So after watching the movie, this being the first watch, I started looking into this particular movie and I can't make out what the fuck the movie is supposed to be about.
Apparently there's this Monster that this chick is intercoursing with and something along the line of doppelgangers plays a role and from the reviews of its release in 1981, it was hard for them to make out what genre the movie was going for but then again, the American release was butchered to try and sell it as a straight out and out Horror movie. Then there are the more recent reviews calling it one of the greatest unseen films around and so its safe to say that all this mystery is creating a throbbing sensation in my once chub of an interest.
So I search for a way to watch it.
Nothing in the closed Video Store.
Nothing on the Netflix.
Nothing on the Hulu.
Nothing on the Amazon Digital but there is something in the storefront.
Not from Amazon itself but some 3rd party selling a brand new copy for…
200 MOTHERFUCKING DOLLARS.
That's rough man. I mean, I have paid premium prices for physical copies before but it all depended on the movie and the possibility of even liking it to consider whether or not its worth the purchase but 200 dollars on a movie I gotta go blind in? That's rough.
I needed time. So I spent my days thinking about it while watching Climax and then I would spend my nights at work thinking about it while doing a terrible job at my job.
Was it worth it? I wondered.
Days go by as I fight myself for an answer. So many punches to the face and stomach. Then pokes into the eye then the pouring of soap into them. Then came the worst pain of all: Scratching the frost out of the freezer till the eardrums exploded. After this self induced unnecessary torture I came to a decision. I decided the film was worth it but first....let me check some other sites.
Wouldn’t you know that I found it my friends? Brand new on one of the greatest websites known to man.
One of the few sites still around to give movie fans the opportunity to see movies nearly impossible to see elsewhere. I remember this site along with Xploited Cinema from the good old high school days. A true vision in gold those high school days of ordering movies through money order and the hope that nobody would open the package before I got home but those stories are for another time.
Rest In Peace Sweet Prince
Obviously after the initial decision to buy it for 200 and seeing that it was now available for 60 bucks, it was an easy decision. Which also gave me the opportunity to spend a couple more bucks to pick up that newly released copy of Versus from Arrow Video.
Maybe the next review?
Real exciting stuff. So now I wait. As of this writing it's been nearly a week since purchase. 1:12 AM in the morning and the hope is that by later on this day the movie will arrive. It will arrive and I will watch it and give a review.
Pouring rain outside and as usual, there was no way I can fall asleep after a night shift and so the only answer was to check the mail. A week long journey at the end of the night to see if the package has arrived. Over and over I have gone into the cold even though I could have just checked the tracking number but that would only ruin the fantasy I was living in.
The one of the Luddite, where you were waiting day by day for the mail to bring you what you were waiting for. Nearly a weeks time of going, at nearly 2 in the morning, down the stairs and through the cold air to face an empty mailbox. Disappointment runs deep my friends… until Today.
I saw a key waiting for me. Into the key slot where I see a box. Upon opening said box, I found what has to be the most absolute amazing presentation I have seen for a physical release.
Sure Criterion has fantastic releases as well as Arrow videos but GODDAMN is this special edition of the film something truly special but more on that later on.
The Last Preview
I couldn’t in all honesty watch the movie and then do the play by play. I was just far too excited to see this to even comprehend having to type out what I was seeing. It was this that was the initial cause of being burned out. It’s a real terrible way to watch a movie. Unless of course its a Rambo movie. Or other movies like a Rambo movie. Then its the only way. I mean. THE ONLY WAY. But what follows is a review. Of sorts. So you know…go read it.
Now For Your Feature Presentation
Holy shit. I walked into something without the foresight of watching a trailer or a piece of footage and it was all for the better that I did so. HOLY SHIT. Like so many others before me, I can't nail down as to where it fits concerning a genre. It defies genre conventions of horror films though it has a monster in the film. A physical monster that actually exists in the film but then again there is something far more sinister outside of that monster because the monster isn’t going around killing people. This isn’t a monster movie and the way the performances are...man, this is one hell of movie.
The most surface level explanation of what I saw and I mean if this film was an acre of land and I grabbed a handful of dirt then I could say that this film is about the disintegration of a marriage.
Sam Neil has been in the Espionage business for too long and his woman, Isabelle Adjani in her most WHOA performance, is already gone from the marriage but they have a kid named Bob that they love, sort of, and it gets into the nitty gritty of just how broken they are not only as a couple but as individuals but then as the film goes on the following happens: a doppelganger of the wife appears, a monster comes to existence, the wife has a miscarriage of EPIC proportions in the subway, Murder, Espionage Murder, Car Explosions, Motorcycle Driving, THEN ABSOLUTE ANNIHILATION.
Spoilers? I doubt it. For these shallow descriptions in no way indicate the high levels of madness in the performances, the direction, the cinematography, and just about everything needed to make a film. What is absolutely certain is that the film succeeds absolutely in creating an experience and leaves you something to remember. Whether or not you will enjoy the film is a question you gotta face and answer at the end but there is absolutely no way you can say you were bored. There are more than enough films out there that you sit down to watch then forget them an hour or so later. Leaving you to feel indifferent and just exist to have something play in the background. Even now, sitting down and trying to name a few is hard because I already forget them but this one. This one is THE ONE.
I have been corrupted in my film watching ways in expectations. The coordinates to understand and get the most out of the film by ‘research’ is how I go about watching movies but even after reading so much about the film and then having actually seen it, I still can’t take grasp of it.
This is a movie that has changed my understanding as to what a film could set out to achieve and accomplish. This is something very special.
There is nothing out there, at least from what I’ve seen, that I could compare it to. There have been comparisons to Cronenberg but I don't really see it. Maybe in themes but then again, there is nothing from his filmography to compare to this film. This is something wholly original without influence. Something that exists for itself and nothing more.
Go watch this.
This is something truly special.
From The Top
Alright. So I talked to my analyst in Georgia via Morse code and the doctor told me to give this a 2nd viewing. A 2nd viewing in order to shoot down the first review. But must I shoot down my first view? No. No I will not do so. I refuse to do so. So I’ll just write a new review on the fairly recent view without looking at what I wrote first time around.
Man, what a movie. That feeling of being manic feels a bit toned down on the 2nd viewing and I’m thinking that since I was already exposed to the madness the first time already that it was a bit more calm this time around. Yet, the power is still there.
The performances of Sam Neil and Isabelle Adjani are just beyond the measures of what you can consider amazing or stable. It doesn’t reach a sense of being over the top because there is no top. It’s something along the lines of extraordinary that is able to take this film from just the expectations of a genre film to something actually worthwhile. Being able to break away from the expectations of what a film like this would call for.
To call it a horror film is maybe justified, though to say that is even tough to commit to but, for at least 60% of the picture it has that certainty but then it reaches a certain point where it starts going somewhere else, into an other dimension as far as I could understand it, and from there its tough to nail the film down.
Its so goddamn out there that as you watch it, you feel as though you have to keep a distance from it. That you have to maintain a certain space avoid becoming involved with the dilemma of the characters because there is a sense of dread that if you were to become grasped by their suffering then maybe you too will go crazy. But then as the film goes on, you are left with no choice but to become involved.
The film takes hold and does not let go.
This drama that grows and grows becomes your life. There is absolutely no escape.
Maybe that’s the lesson in all this. That even though you try to reason with this marriage that’s coming to end, one that gave life to a child, to see it all crumble without being able to do much that you strive to find an escape to avoid having to face the fact that you either gonna get through it alive or end up dead.
A marriage that comes to an end seems like a real fucking bummer.
With the divorce rate so high these days, maybe this is the film that could be a sense of relief to those suffering. Or its just a real great movie. I figure both are on the level as reasonable.
An Epilogue
Andrzej Zulawski is a film maker that has punched me in the gut. I haven’t had this feeling in quite some time and it feels absolutely fantastic to finally find a film that is not only worth a watch but there’s enough there to make me want to watch it again and again. Getting something new every time.
There is something to what he is showing that says this is the way. Whats at the end of this way, that’s hard to tell but for the moment its something worth seeing. So I made a couple purchases from Toufaan.com, which offers the available Zulawski films for sale, but I wanted give a bigger shout-out to Mondo Vision.
Currently they have taken the time to not only have some of Zulawski’s filmography available on physical media since its goddamn near impossible to find his films available in the West, in both physical and digital, but have gone about in taking the time and effort to remaster them to the best quality possible.
If the rest of their releases are to be measured as to what they did with Possession then hopefully the future is a bright one for them in them releasing not only all, if possible, Zulawski’s films but films from other directors that might not be well known or known at all in the West.
And so in appreciation of their effort, here is a look into what a beautiful release this Possession set is with the nearest terrible quality camera that I had available.
(Note to those 2 that read this; I haven’t been paid for this endorsement nor am I any way endorsed by anybody. I just love it when a film gets a real cool physical release)
Adults Only Strip Show
So what you see here is not just the box the film rests in but
the sweet velvet box that holds the physical box. Beautiful. Simply beautiful.
So here’s the fantastic poster art for the film and to the right is the flap that unlocks the magic in the box.
The magic with the approval of Andrzej Zulawski.
To the right we see not only the film.
But the soundtrack as well
And now to the left.
What you see here is a booklet with reviews, opinions and the best highlight, an interview with the director. And since I’m talking interviews, I should mention that the extras on the disc itself are fantastic.
You get a fantastic nearly hour long making of the film, an interview with Zulawski, an interview with Eric Veaux who was the French translator of Zulawski’s book, the sad fact being that I have no tongue for other languages and that his books haven’t been translated to English, and the highlight is the feature length directors audio commentary. Then there is the teaser trailer for the film and trailers for the other films available from Mondo Vision but now, on we go.
Underneath the booklet are 8 US Lobby Cards that are hidden in this pretty cool envelope. Try and make a movie out of these images and you’ll be puzzled even more.
Then underneath that are some pretty rad art cards. Courtesy of French artist Jean-Philippe Guigou. Don’t know his work but I should check out his art sometime.
Underneath the underneath is this pretty rad reproduction Japanese flyer. I use to be real big into the Japanese flyer and even had my hands on a vintage Blade Runner one but I ended up gifting that to a professor of mine that dug Blade Runner even more than me.
The piece de resistance. An certificate to authenticate the amazing limited edition run of this fantastic film.
And here is another cool shot of the box standing up.
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I Bid You Adios
And so as this comes to an end, I leave you with these words. Go watch this.
How?
I don’t know but my advice is to pick up a copy of the film. Either through DVDDiabolik.com or Toufaan.com will work. You don’t have to pick up the limited edition and could pick up the regular release but...
JUST SEE THIS MOVIE!