The book is better IMO (other than no Portman :-) and one of the most disturbing things I've ever read. Highly recommended.
Yes, I read them all the same week (bad weather kept me inside). Yesterday I read the Silo Stories (3?) in his Machine Learning anthology. I liked the first book and the short stories the best.
It's probably my favorite scifi movie that made me really feel something. I think you can find a lot to relate to, grief, depression, loss. I really think the main theme is self destruction, specifically resulting from some kind of trauma. Everyone had their own issues and they were all basically destroying themselves and finding solace in the shimmer.
Quite literally self 'Annihilation', I think the shimmer itself is more analogous to cancer (continuously expanding, with random distorted outcomes, most of which are agressive towards anything untainted by the shimmer), but fundamentally each of the characters are there for their own different reasons for self-destruction with the hopes that it benefits others, as they effectively know it's a suicide mission).
The bit that I cannot recall if it was explained is why did the special ops guy go if he had a loving wife at home; what was his reason for self destruction?
The bit that I cannot recall if it was explained is why did the special ops guy go if he had a loving wife at home; what was his reason for self destruction?
I don't remember an explanation for it aside from it was just his mission as part of being in the military. But he didn't really have a "loving" wife at home. She cheated on him. Maybe he knew and volunteered for the mission because his marriage was over.
The movie was about cancer? Where did you read that?! The movie is the closest movie approximation of the book Alex Garland could make, considering how dense and intertwined the whole Southern Reach Trilogy is.
Sorry if my question sounded like an attack 😬 Vandermeer’s writing style deliberately opens his work to different interpretations and it’s rather interesting to see the same happening with this movie adaptation. Another interesting angle I’ve read is environmental: either in a way that Area X is return to nature (purification) or it’s the opposite (our own destruction of the planet) Getting ready to re-read the whole trilogy, will definitely include this guy’s cancer perspective as I am going through to see how it fits.
My favourite film analysis of this is by Dan Olson of Folding Ideas: https://youtu.be/URo66iLNEZw
It's a great breakdown and also criticises those "ending explained" videos as well.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/URo66iLNEZw
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I just watched Neon Genesis Evangellion. WTF at the end of the series. Then saw there was a later movie with the "real" end. Which was also WTF.
Literally the first thing on my mind when I saw this thread! I needed some time to process what happened after seeing End of Evangelion.
Primer. I needed to re-watch it at least 3 times to even begin understanding WTF was happening. Even the wiki sites that try to explain it are incomprehensible at first.
I absolutely love Yorgos Lanthimos' movies. Killing of a Sacred Deer is probably my favorite. His movies just have this uneasyness that really makes you feel...off watching them.
That's one that really only makes sense after watching it multiple times. The excerpts from the book(?) tell you the "what" and "why" of the events of the movie. Okay, they tell you enough that it makes some sense...
I'm pretty sure only the director's cut has the excerpts from the book. It still takes at least two watches and some pausing.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion. It was a one weird rollercoaster ride. I still can't understand the movie too.
Sorry To Bother You was a wild fucking ride. Definitely watch it high for maximum wtf
I was looking for this one. I went into it completely blind one night and that was a ride.
Beau is Afraid is absolutely mental. I had no idea what to expect when we went to see it, and I’m so thankful the cinema was empty so we could audibly talk about wtf was going on throughout. It’s definitely a movie I want people to watch but with the caveat that I’m not recommending it.
I absolutely loved Beau is Afraid, but yeah that last act was a trip. It reminded me of "Men". The ending of that is just pure WTF.
The penis monster haunts my dreams! The whole movie was a trip and I absolutely loved the insanity of the first act, but the last 30 odd minutes were just mental
Ooh, what did you think of Men? Also, Beau is a way different movie, but I thought the endings had similar vibes with a pure WTF is going on feel.
I remember once when I was a teenager turning on the TV at like 2 in the morning on a Saturday and being treated to Adult Swim's Sealab 2021 for the first time. Along with the rest of their line up around 1999-2003. It was fucking weird as shit. But hilarious.
Adult Swims programming from the exact same time you mentioned helped shape me into who I am now, lmao. What an awesome time for TV. I can remember sneaking downstairs to the TV to put on Space Ghost Coast to Coast. I didn't "get it" but I was very aware that I liked that type of dry humor.
Space Ghost is also how I discovered Triumph the Wonder Dog.
"If by 'worked with' you mean 'banged up the ass' then, yes, I worked with Lassie."
"You can say that? Huh. Well, I too, once banged a dog up the a-"
"How was I supposed to know we'd be taken off the air?!"
Rubber. I went in knowing it was a WTF film, but had NO idea how far out it was. It made Sharknado make sense by comparison.
It was also an excellent movie! That tire really made me feel for it even without any facial expressions or dialog.
EXistenZ - The final question "Are we still in the game?" really summarized the first watch experience. You have no clue what's going on anymore by that point. Same goes for Total Recall by the way - that movie also has you guessing what's real and what isn't throughout 90% of the runtime.
I can't remember when, but I know I saw EXistenZ on HBO somewhere. I first saw it from the middle of the movie and thought "If I watch this from the beginning I might understand it." Turns out watching it again didn't help, but I watched it again anyway. It was sort of like a fascinating disaster.
Kudos to the creators of that film. I don't think I could have come up with that primis.
I watched it twice in a row the first time I watched it too. I think it helped, but it's still had to watch it a third time.