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Cosmopolis - a film by David Cronenberg
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AlleyKat
The Unwanted.
#1 - 2012-12-05 00:28:30 UTC
Oh dear...

I need your help; I need someone's help.

This was a film my brain just didn't get along with and play nice. It wanted to steal all of the easter eggs before the hunt and pee in the lemonade, before the grownups took their first quenching gulp in the late spring 'sarvo.

If anyone has watched this (there must be at least one other than I) would you be so kind to correct me on its utter lack of story-telling prowess?

I got on-board just fine; the ticket said David Cronenberg and although the destination was unknown to me, I wanted him to take me somewhere I hadn't been, like so many times before. The Fly, eXistenZ, Crash, The Dead Zone and of course Scanners. These were all films which have haunted and intrigued me.

This just bored me...other than playing the guessing game as to which known-but-not-so-well-known actor/ess would show up and raise one of my eye-brows, spock style, but only for the briefest of seconds. 'Oh look!' my brain would say, 'it's the baddie from that last bond movie about something in a desert or something...oh he's speaking in another terrible accent about something that makes no sense...oh he's gone now'

The dialogue was a mess, like hearing am-dram on the stage at school with parents smiling, but thinking about how many points this will score...and trying to guess which teacher will be smoking pot back-backstage to deal with the reality of having to sit through this one-more-time.

Every character spoke in riddles. So, not just bad dialogue; but incoherent word-o-grams - like overhearing someone in Starbucks try to work out the anagramaticalities of the daily crossword in the financial times.

I guess being a simple country-boy, I have a need for stories to make sense.

Help!

AK

This space for rent.
Bane Necran
Appono Astos
#2 - 2012-12-05 00:34:11 UTC
I'll have to see it now. I like trying to decode cryptic things, as long as there actually is something there to find.

Like 2001: A Space Odyssey. See what HAL turns into when you take each letter one more step up the alphabet. Cool

"In the void is virtue, and no evil. Wisdom has existence, principle has existence, the Way has existence, spirit is nothingness." ~Miyamoto Musashi
Brujo Loco
Brujeria Teologica
#3 - 2012-12-05 12:59:26 UTC  |  Edited by: Brujo Loco
Bane Necran wrote:
I'll have to see it now. I like trying to decode cryptic things, as long as there actually is something there to find.

Like 2001: A Space Odyssey. See what HAL turns into when you take each letter one more step up the alphabet. Cool


Clarke and Kubrick themselves denied vehemently that ... just FYI Big smile

EDIT: Hmmm will wait for a proper torren ... err , proper way to obtain this movie and watch so I can comment.

Inner Sayings of BrujoLoco: http://eve-files.com/sig/brujoloco
Bane Necran
Appono Astos
#4 - 2012-12-05 13:04:06 UTC
Brujo Loco wrote:
Clarke and Kubrick themselves denied vehemently that ... just FYI Big smile


Of course. That would be one strange libel lawsuit, but a lawsuit nonetheless.

"In the void is virtue, and no evil. Wisdom has existence, principle has existence, the Way has existence, spirit is nothingness." ~Miyamoto Musashi
Noriko Satomi
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#5 - 2012-12-06 17:37:01 UTC
I haven't seen the film, or read the novel, but in my experience, novels are much better at conveying a complex message. Try the book then see the movie again, perhaps.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1480656/reviews
Telegram Sam
Sebiestor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#6 - 2012-12-06 17:49:52 UTC
I've seen 2001 a few times, but just read the book a while back. Now I understand why the movie is so cryptic. Kubrick asked Clarke to write a story for a sci-fi film. So Clarke wrote the novel, and Kubrick made the film. When the film was released, the novel was released virtually at the same time.

So the way I understood it, the novel kind of serves as a companion piece to the film. In other words, Kubrick didn't bother to explain the rationale of the story in film. He focused on the visuals and atmosphere, and left it to the novel to fill in the explanations. It's a great book on its own, if you haven't read it.
AlleyKat
The Unwanted.
#7 - 2012-12-06 21:31:24 UTC
Telegram Sam wrote:
I've seen 2001 a few times, but just read the book a while back. Now I understand why the movie is so cryptic. Kubrick asked Clarke to write a story for a sci-fi film. So Clarke wrote the novel, and Kubrick made the film. When the film was released, the novel was released virtually at the same time.

So the way I understood it, the novel kind of serves as a companion piece to the film. In other words, Kubrick didn't bother to explain the rationale of the story in film. He focused on the visuals and atmosphere, and left it to the novel to fill in the explanations. It's a great book on its own, if you haven't read it.


I haven't read 2001 for the reasons you've stated, but did get to read The Sentinel, the short story precusor to 2001 which was very very entertaining.

Go check it out, it's only a few pages long but I highly recommend it.

I think it was called The Sentinel...might need a citation on that.

AK

This space for rent.
Krixtal Icefluxor
INLAND EMPIRE Galactic
#8 - 2012-12-07 18:36:25 UTC
The book and movie are entirely different animals, but both work in their respective genres.

The movie is an engaging, thoughtful philosophical piece made up of of light and sound and hardly any dialogue. Roger Ebert said Kubrick "...shows us Infinity in a forkfull of peas".

Clarke's book, however is based in concrete reality with definite physical explanations for everything that happens. The sequels take it even scientivically further in that the monoliths are sorta 'black-hole matter that self-replicates". Quite a departure from Kubricks intentions that's for sure.

I prefer the original film only, but the novels are good reads. Just bear in mind they are not at all like the original film, even in 'message'.

"He has mounted his hind-legs, and blown crass vapidities through the bowel of his neck."  - Ambrose Bierce on Oscar Wilde's Lecture in San Francisco 1882
Krixtal Icefluxor
INLAND EMPIRE Galactic
#9 - 2012-12-07 18:39:46 UTC
Oh, and just the very fact someone was able to adapt Don Delilo's novel to film is absolutely astounding. Of course it would be Cronenberg. I remember the anouncement of 'Videodrome' in the old StarLog magazine, and watched that little gem back then.

I can't wait to see how Cosmopolis turned out. I do like the scene that was released with the rats thrown in the restaurant.

"He has mounted his hind-legs, and blown crass vapidities through the bowel of his neck."  - Ambrose Bierce on Oscar Wilde's Lecture in San Francisco 1882