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Movie review: Beyond the Black Rainbow
12 years ago
A while back I saw a picture on some message board, a strange long thin astronaut looking creature with a childlike but lifeless face, the picture was simply named “sentionaut”.
Some searching later I found that it was a character from “Beyond the black rainbow” a recent indie SF movie directed by Panos Cosmatos.
Intrigued I hunted down the movie and what I found was weird beyond description...
Its the eighties and in a strange sort of asylum a young catatonic woman is being held prisoner by a sadistic psychiatrist who tries to unravel the secret of her paranormal abilities.
Will she awaken and find the strength to escape?.
Sounds like a simple and cohesive enough plot you probably think, how weird can this get?.
Well more weird than I could possibly imagine and then some...
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1ertVYn750
In a time where everything has to be fast this movie is slow, in a time where there has to be exposition dialogue every two seconds this movie hardly has any and chooses to tell its story mostly trough its extremely trippy visuals
It tries to bring back the strange experimental movies of the eighties, using grainy film stock, color filters and droning yet beautiful analogue synth music.
Its full of symbolism and references and most of it hardly seems to make any sense.
Is it pretentious?, yes its VERY pretentious but after having seen it several times now I’m completely forgiving it for every bit of pretention it has, because its just so wonderfully strange, possibly the strangest movie I have ever seen.
I cant compare it to any other movie, I cant even say if its good or bad, yet I’m utterly fascinated by it.
Its more an experience than a narrative, there seems to be hardly any story and the ending sort of comes out of nowhere and then its just over as if someone pulled the plug on the camera and they just said “screw it were out of money” “the end”.
I’m not even sure if I understand all of it or if there some parts can even BE understood.
Its like the dreams I used to have as a kid when I was sick and had high fever, this strange oppressive horrible confusing experience of sound and colors.
Disturbing.... scary.... incomprehensible.
And yet I cant look away, I’m fascinated, hypnotized, and I wonder: “is this what its like to take LSD?”.
Do I recommend this movie, oh yes huge recommendation, but I cant guaranty you will like it, I think most people will even hate it.
See it with an open mind, don't expect anything and just let it.......... “happen”.
I’m looking forward to the next strange and wonderful trip Panos Cosmatos will take us, will it be a much more conventional movie or will he go even deeper down the rabbit hole.
A final special mention has to go to the movie’s score by composer Jeremy Schmidt, haunting, disturbing, oppressive yet beautiful and perfect for this film.
Soundtrack sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQS3IaR1NVU
Some searching later I found that it was a character from “Beyond the black rainbow” a recent indie SF movie directed by Panos Cosmatos.
Intrigued I hunted down the movie and what I found was weird beyond description...
Its the eighties and in a strange sort of asylum a young catatonic woman is being held prisoner by a sadistic psychiatrist who tries to unravel the secret of her paranormal abilities.
Will she awaken and find the strength to escape?.
Sounds like a simple and cohesive enough plot you probably think, how weird can this get?.
Well more weird than I could possibly imagine and then some...
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1ertVYn750
In a time where everything has to be fast this movie is slow, in a time where there has to be exposition dialogue every two seconds this movie hardly has any and chooses to tell its story mostly trough its extremely trippy visuals
It tries to bring back the strange experimental movies of the eighties, using grainy film stock, color filters and droning yet beautiful analogue synth music.
Its full of symbolism and references and most of it hardly seems to make any sense.
Is it pretentious?, yes its VERY pretentious but after having seen it several times now I’m completely forgiving it for every bit of pretention it has, because its just so wonderfully strange, possibly the strangest movie I have ever seen.
I cant compare it to any other movie, I cant even say if its good or bad, yet I’m utterly fascinated by it.
Its more an experience than a narrative, there seems to be hardly any story and the ending sort of comes out of nowhere and then its just over as if someone pulled the plug on the camera and they just said “screw it were out of money” “the end”.
I’m not even sure if I understand all of it or if there some parts can even BE understood.
Its like the dreams I used to have as a kid when I was sick and had high fever, this strange oppressive horrible confusing experience of sound and colors.
Disturbing.... scary.... incomprehensible.
And yet I cant look away, I’m fascinated, hypnotized, and I wonder: “is this what its like to take LSD?”.
Do I recommend this movie, oh yes huge recommendation, but I cant guaranty you will like it, I think most people will even hate it.
See it with an open mind, don't expect anything and just let it.......... “happen”.
I’m looking forward to the next strange and wonderful trip Panos Cosmatos will take us, will it be a much more conventional movie or will he go even deeper down the rabbit hole.
A final special mention has to go to the movie’s score by composer Jeremy Schmidt, haunting, disturbing, oppressive yet beautiful and perfect for this film.
Soundtrack sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQS3IaR1NVU
sezmilthe2nd
~sezmilthe2nd
There is one movie it reminds me of, Phase IV. Has a lot of the same atmosphere, though not as much. It also had an unclear ending. Memory's a bit hazy though.
