May
21
Industrial Symphony No. 1
Filed Under David Lynch, Laserdisc | Leave a Comment
| Industrial Symphony No. 1 |
|
| Year | 1990 |
| Director | David Lynch |
| Actors | Julee Cruise Michael J. Anderson Laura Dern Nicolas Cage |
| Disc Layers | 1 |
| Source | Laserdisc |
| Image Quality | Very Good |
UPDATE: Industrial Symphony No. 1 is now available in the United States and other countries as part of the David Lynch Lime Green DVD Set. I no longer trade this title.
This collaboration between David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti, an avant garde stage performance, takes all of Lynch’s signature elements and presents them in a surreal show filled with symbolism, the haunting voice of Julee Cruise, and the unforgettable music of Badalamenti.
Industrial Symphony No. 1 contains a large number of references to Lynch’s other work. It begins with two lovers breaking up over the phone (Laura Dern and Nicolas Cage in roles almost identical to those they played in Wild At Heart), then abruptly switches to a stage performance that symbolizes the thoughts inside the head of the heartbroken girl. Julee Cruise, seen briefly in Twin Peaks, is the focus of the performance as she flies about the stage and lip syncs songs from the two albums she created with Lynch and Badalamenti. Michael J. Anderson, the little man from Twin Peaks, plays an integral part, as do Lynch’s ubiquitous power lines and unsettling imagery. Badalamenti himself makes an appearance on stage and plays a clarinet.
What makes Industrial Symphony No. 1 interesting to fans of Lynch’s other work, however, may not be the music or the presence of Lynch affiliates, but how it predicts the “psychogenic fugue” style of narrative that he would fully explore seven years later in Lost Highway - a style that he has continued to develop and perfect. Lynch’s recent work tries to replicate that lucid dreaming moment when one is aware of being in the dreamstate. To fully enjoy films like Mulholland Drive or Inland Empire you have to sit back and imagine you’re enjoying a good dream - one in which logic, continuity, and linear storytelling are unnecessary. Looking at it this way, Industrial Symphony No. 1 is closer to Inland Empire than it is to Wild At Heart, which was made at roughly the same time as this performance. It moves through moments of calm, moments of nightmare, and moments of uncertainty like a bad dream. Or a really good one.
The source for this DVD is the Japanese laserdisc. There are no subtitles (all dialogue and lyrics are in English) and the picture quality is very good. It runs just under an hour.
May
7
Hardware (M.A.R.K. 13)
Filed Under DVD, Horror, Movies, Science Fiction | Leave a Comment
| Hardware (M.A.R.K. 13) | |
| Year | 1990 |
| Director | Richard Stanley |
| Actors | Dylan McDermott Stacy Travis Iggy Pop |
| Disc Layers | 1 |
| Source | DVD |
| Image Quality | Excellent |
UPDATE: Hardware is now available in the United States on 2-disc DVD and Blu-Ray. I no longer trade this title.
Richard Stanley’s first feature film is one of those movies that could only have been made in the late 1980s - a visually artistic, post-apocalyptic/science fiction/horror film that has more in common with the films of Ken Russell than it does with The Terminator. Many of us lucky enough to see Hardware during its limited theatrical run became life-long fans of the man who, in 18 years, has really only directed two full-length features.
Long before the debacle of Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau, Stanley’s film about a robot killing several less-than-likeable humans explored the concept of our own unusual creations becoming a threat to our existence. At the time of its release, I remember reading an interview with Stanley in which he claimed to be filming a documentary in the desert when he received word of Hardware’s funding. He had been carrying a wounded friend on his back for a day or so.
Hardware has much of the late 80s/early 90s post-apocalypse style: a washed out orange/red tint to the image, the implication of a Big Brother-type government, a population of nuclear-mutated homeless people, and a pessimistic attitude that everything is not going to be okay. It’s slow and it mostly takes place in a single room. It’s a movie that just wouldn’t work in the 21st century.
The beauty of Hardware lies in the presentation. With a minimal budget, Stanley created an artistic film with loads of surrealism and memorable imagery that manages to be intelligent and absorbing without being pretentious. A dose of gory violence (which initially earned the film an X rating) keeps things from getting to self-conscious. This is, after all, a movie about a killer robot.
There was a time when Hardware was slated for a Region 1 release. Time stretched on and on until eventually it was clear that it wasn’t going to happen. Fortunately, it was released in limited numbers in one or two other regions. In an age of High Definition, the intentionally washed-out look of the image takes a few minutes to adjust to, but then it starts to add to the movie’s dreamlike feel. A great score, a slight bit of philosophy, and a few quirky characters round out the experience.