i watched a couple movies recently!
first up: Spirits of the Dead (1968)! i've actually watched this wonderful anthology before, but i watched this with my dad because he simply had to see the Fellini segment. but that's not to say the other segments are bad at all, it's just that the Fellini one really sticks with you.
the gimmick here is that each segment is based on a different Edgar Allan Poe story. the first segment, directed by Roger Vadim and starring Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda, is based on Metzengerstein. the second segment, directed by Louis Malle and starring Alan Delon and Brigitte Bardot, is adapted from William Wilson. finally, the legendary Fellini segment (Toby Dammit) is very loosely based on Never Bet the Devil Your Head and stars Terence Stamp.
Metzengerstein is a wonderful adaptation of the short story that gender bends Fredrick to Frédérique and makes her even more cruel and horrible then the story could portray. Jane Fonda takes to the roll extremely well, and watching her going from a cruel and power hungry child who answers any resistance with violence and punishment to a frail and scared woman obsessed with a horse. Peter Fonda is....fine but he is barely in the tale so it dosen't really matter. also, bit of a bold choice having Jane Fonda's love interest be played by her brother. oh well. Vadim's segment is absolutely gorgeous and i love the way genuine ruins of french castles are part of the movie's look. also jesus, the costumes are INCREDIBLE. Jane alone goes through like 10 different costume changes. and all of them are so goddamn amazing. capes and tight fabrics and lace and just extravagance that works so well. also the incredible music that mixes electronic droning with classical instruments is so, so effective. it sounds like something from Tangerine Dream!
William Wilson is maybe the weakest of the three in my eyes, but it's still very good. Alan Delon plays the also extremely cruel namesake with a detached coldness that feels almost alien. of course, that coldness is replaced with an intense and burning hostility for his doppelganger who always seems to step in before he can do something truly awful. similar to Metzengerstein, Wilson is like a child who gets upset when you take away his toys. Brigitte Bardot shows up in the final act as Giuseppina, the woman who easily sees through William's persona for the scared little man he is. Wilson abuses her and when the other Wilson prevents him from punishing Giuseppina for her transgressions against him, he finally breaks. William Wilson is far more restrained then Metzengerstein or Toby Dammit, but it's still good owing to Delon's strong performance.
finally, Toby Dammit. this is the reason to watch Spirits of the Dead, honestly. this is a white hot blast of Fellini surrealism and absurdism in such a short run time that it is genuinely overwhelming to the senses. from the first frame, you know what you're in for. the shots of Terrance Stamp as the run-down alcoholic aggressive and sarcastic Toby Dammit caught in the labyrinthe Roman airport that appears to be located somewhere in hell that feel so claustrophobic and hot that you can feel the anxiety of the space itself as Toby trespasses into a realm he should not be. and the world spirals from there, as Toby panics at the sight of his own devil that follows him wherever he goes. everything about Toby Dammit is designed to be equal parts absurd satire of Italian film societies and vaguely horrifying glimpses into the deteriorating mental state of Toby himself as more and more people try to take advantage of this tarnished star. this segment is unholy in it's aesthetic, which is ironic considering the story's proximity to Catholicism's home base. the first-person Ferrari sequences are extremely well done, too, especially when they mark the end of Toby's self-destruction. absolutely loved it but i had to go immediately to bed afterwards.
in totality, should you watch Spirits of the Dead? absolutely! all three renditions of the Poe tales are well worth watching. i'd say William Wilson probably requires a CW for how casually misogynist a lot of the violence is, but other then that, i recommend Spirits of the Dead!
the second: Until the End of the World!
dear god where do i even start with this one? did i like it? yes! i think so? i should point out that i watched the ultimate director's cut, which means i watched all four hours and forty-seven minutes of the movie. and it was....bumpy.
even trying to describe the genre of UTEOTW is a challenge. in Wim Wenders' own words, it's "the ultimate road movie". at the core of UTEOTW is a romantic sci-fi adventure that takes place in a (now alt) future on the verge of apocalypse. there's elements of comedy, philosophy, spirituality, the invasion of technology and so many other themes in the run time to the movie that it feels like Wenders could have made three separate movies out of this massive concept.
the cast is an all star one too. the main starring roles are Solveig Dommartin as the directionless and hurting Claire Tourneur while William Hurt plays the object of her affections Trevor McPhee (hmm, is that his real name?), a seemingly bumbling and well-meaning american who is on the run from bounty hunters for stealing something. Sam Neil plays Claire's ex-lover Eugene Fitzpatrick and serves as the narrator for the movie as he tries to get back together with Claire despite himself being the one to ruin things between the two. they are joined by countless others, including Jeanne Moreau and Max Von Sydow as very important characters in the later stages of the film.
i don't even know if i have the words to accurately convey how breathtakingly beautiful this movie is. the adventure that Claire goes on takes her literally all over the world. and every time the location changes you can feel just how much the movie is simply in love with the spaces it is in. everyone behind the camera understood that one of the core themes of the movie is about the world we are in and how we never stop to appreciate the naturalistic (and man-made!) beauty of these places. whether it be France, Portugal, Beijing, Toyko or the Australian outback, UTEOTW wants you to stop and just drink in the amazing places that we find ourselves in. this is a double edged sword however, as sometimes this can kill the momentum of the story as it builds because it wants to stop and literally smell the roses. the invasion of the near-future world of 1999 is also incredibly well-realized, with a light touch that never feels too overbearing yet still reminds you this is a futuristic world. it's very akin to something like what Alphaville was attempting to do, with small elements of the future informing the story and aesthetic but with a perfect balance between the contemporary world and the sci-fi one. i love all the props in this movie so much with how earnestly they tried to predict trends and styles and how they do sometimes hit pretty close but sometimes woefully miss. shoutouts to the car AI that is polite and conversational. i also loved the interstitials of Claire filming her journey on her digital camera that are all done from the first person, that is just a wonderful little bonus that makes the journey feel all that more grounded.
famously, UTEOTW's initial severely compromised theatrical release bombed heavily. a $23 million budget that made (according to wikipedia) only around $753k explains why no one gave Wenders such a massive budget again. however, the soundtrack to the movie did extremely well, and it's easy to see why. much of the music was made with the idea of artists being asked "what will you be composing in 1999?" and it really works. artists like Talking Heads, REM, Depeche Mode and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds all made music that was designed to be listened to with the movie but also work extremely well inside the movie. when taken with the movie, however, it is weaved in so seemingly effortlessly to match the tone and imagery of any given moment in the story that it feels like one of those things that seems incredibly easy but probably took incredible amounts of effort to get everything just right. i also loved how much the songs echoed the themes of the movie lyrically and often include a refrain about the end of the world. it's just kind of incredible to see this level of synchronicity between music and film.
that leads us to the story. here's where UTEOTW's excesses become an issue, as what is ultimately a simple concept becomes rather labyrinthe and confusing. the movie feels like it ends at least three different times, but Wenders and crew seemed to never stop having ideas they could shove in and they refused to say no, even when the movie suffers for it, narratively. it also leads to a movie with some very high highs and some rather bizarre lows. would this have been better as a tv show, i wonder? it's hard to tell.
here's the setup: in the year 1999, an Indian Nuclear Defense satellite has fallen from orbit and is spiraling towards the earth. no one knows where the impact site has been and the world is in a state of panic as people try to get away from probable strike zones and others believe this is a sign of the end of the world. while this is happening, Claire has found herself in some stranger's bed in Italy after a party. this is not a new occurance for her, as she has been in a state of emotional disassociation and self-destruction since discovering her boyfriend (Sam Neil) in bed with her best friend. Claire could not care less about the possible end of all things, as she is more concerned with getting to the next party and outrunning her nightmares that haunt her while she sleeps. while trying to drive back home to Paris, Claire gets caught in a traffic jam that is being caused by people trying to evacuate the area as the news has speculated that an area in France might be ground zero for the nuclear satellite. instead of staying on the road, Claire instead drives off road and tries to find her own way. things appear to be going well until another car on the road with her carelessly throws a bottle out of the car and smashes Claire's windshield and causes her to spiral out of control and crash. shockingly, both Claire and the people in the other car are completely fine. Claire begins conversing with the friendly pair in the other car and despite them being the ones who destroyed her car, she gives them a ride to their destination. it turns out her passengers are bank robbers who recently robbed Nice Airport and have a duffel bag full of money that needs to get to Paris. they convince Claire to take the bag to it's destination in exchange for a 30% cut. Claire agrees and sets off, but unbeknownst to her the robbers are tracking the location of the bag via a tracer. after stopping at a car mechanic to get her windshield fixed, she attempts to call Eugene and is disgusted to see his video answering machine still has her former friend in it. next to her, a man is attempting to call someone but appears to be in pain owing to some unknown eye strain. Claire helps him complete the video call, and he thanks her and introduces himself as Trevor McPhree before leaving. Claire then makes another call to her friend Mariko (Adelle Lutz) in Paris to inquire about an apartment near her, but a man named Burt (Ernie Dingo) at the video phone next to her inquires about if she saw someone matching Trevor's description to which she lies and says she has not after seeing him reach for something in his jacket. after finishing with Mariko, she returns to her car. before she can drive away, however, Trevor slips into the passenger's seat and begs her to take him somewhere else. noticing that Burt is behind them, she accepts the request and heads off. on the road, french police stop Claire after seeing the windshield filler still on the car, but leave after Trevor says they are newlyweds on their honeymoon. on the journey to Paris, Trevor and Claire get to know each other and Claire in particular is completely smitten with Trevor's music choice for the ride: the sound of Cameroonian Aka Tribe children singing. she falls asleep for the first time in a long time while Trevor drives and peeks into the duffel bag that Claire is seemingly guarding before taking a bundle of cash without her noticing. Trevor departs when they arrive at Paris and Claire then goes to Eugene's home. however, the love between the two is now very one-sided and she no longer sees him as her lover entirely. she informs the anxious Eugene of the plan with the money and Eugene, despite his protests, is enlisted to help her sort out all the different currencies and figure out what her cut is. Claire soon discovers some money is missing, but there is an IOU from Trevor that includes the Aka Tribe music disc. globe-spanning lovestruck hijinks ensue. this is literally only the first half hour of the movie.
so, do i recommend Until the End of the World? i think i do! it's an incredibly unique viewing experience for all of it's flaws and is so earnest and honest in what it's trying to get across that you can't help but root for it. the beauty of it's world is so overwhelming that if you let yourself get sucked in, you will have a wonderful time regardless. just be mindful of that run time.