Dehydrator
05-05-2002, 08:43 PM
ALTERED STATES (1980)
Directed by Ken Russell
Written by Paddy Chaefsky
Starring:
William Hurt as Eddie Jessup
Blair Brown as Emelie Jessup
Bob Balaban as Arthur Rosenberg
my rating 8/10
+++ might contain minor spoilers +++
Just checked this one out and liked it alot, this is my third Ken Russell movie after GOTHIC & LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM (both great) and I really need to watch more from this guy soon.
ALTERED STATES deals, in the basic, with scientiest Eddie Jessup trying to find himself, or better trying to find a way to everyone's self and the meaning of the subconcious. Being the crazy harvard teacher he is, he first tries to alter his mind by putting himself in a watertank (sure to get you in a trance-like state sooner or later) and ends up experiencing magic mushrooms with the help of a weird, indian ritual in mexico. Back home he tries to combine both methods to get over the "blackout" phases that resault with psychedelic experiences. He better had not...
ALTERED STATES is a wonderful science-fiction movie, a visual banquet and a horrrflick at the same time, even when it's a rather tame one in terms of bodycount and
gore, the subject is a very frightening one. Lots of weird dream/trip out sequences in typical Russell-fashion (for example we get to see a goat with seven eyes, 2 humans shaped in sand, blown away by the wind and a quik LSD-ridden insight in human evolution). The drug element is done very well, the funky (and dangerous) thing about mushrooms being that, despite whoever claims, nobody can tell how they turn out. Eddie Jessup has a religious-like relation to his scientific-job (his wife thinks he's obsessed) and a deeply religious past, involving his father's death. Even though all these elements promise a rather "spaced out" viewing, this is by no means in the lines of GOTHIC, the script and the characters are very down to earth and the subject of finding a key to yourself through mind altering is explored in a very real and non-exegerrating way. Various reviews I've read on the movie bitch about how "stupid" it is but I don't see anything like that. There are many flicks who think they are smarter than they are but this is certainly not one of them. As said before, there's not much physical action going on here, ALTERED STATES moves rather slow (but even) so don't watch if you're in the mood for cheap thrills. The acting is very good all around, I heard the soundtrack was somewhen nominated for an Oscar (I didn't notice much of the score) and Russell's weird visuals still come through 22 years after the movie's release. I had a few problems with the rather clichéd ending (love conquers mushrooms...) and how the religious undertones somehow got thrown overboard during the movie. But after all I thought this was a very cool watch and I'd recommend ALTERED STATES to all of you.
8/10
Directed by Ken Russell
Written by Paddy Chaefsky
Starring:
William Hurt as Eddie Jessup
Blair Brown as Emelie Jessup
Bob Balaban as Arthur Rosenberg
my rating 8/10
+++ might contain minor spoilers +++
Just checked this one out and liked it alot, this is my third Ken Russell movie after GOTHIC & LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM (both great) and I really need to watch more from this guy soon.
ALTERED STATES deals, in the basic, with scientiest Eddie Jessup trying to find himself, or better trying to find a way to everyone's self and the meaning of the subconcious. Being the crazy harvard teacher he is, he first tries to alter his mind by putting himself in a watertank (sure to get you in a trance-like state sooner or later) and ends up experiencing magic mushrooms with the help of a weird, indian ritual in mexico. Back home he tries to combine both methods to get over the "blackout" phases that resault with psychedelic experiences. He better had not...
ALTERED STATES is a wonderful science-fiction movie, a visual banquet and a horrrflick at the same time, even when it's a rather tame one in terms of bodycount and
gore, the subject is a very frightening one. Lots of weird dream/trip out sequences in typical Russell-fashion (for example we get to see a goat with seven eyes, 2 humans shaped in sand, blown away by the wind and a quik LSD-ridden insight in human evolution). The drug element is done very well, the funky (and dangerous) thing about mushrooms being that, despite whoever claims, nobody can tell how they turn out. Eddie Jessup has a religious-like relation to his scientific-job (his wife thinks he's obsessed) and a deeply religious past, involving his father's death. Even though all these elements promise a rather "spaced out" viewing, this is by no means in the lines of GOTHIC, the script and the characters are very down to earth and the subject of finding a key to yourself through mind altering is explored in a very real and non-exegerrating way. Various reviews I've read on the movie bitch about how "stupid" it is but I don't see anything like that. There are many flicks who think they are smarter than they are but this is certainly not one of them. As said before, there's not much physical action going on here, ALTERED STATES moves rather slow (but even) so don't watch if you're in the mood for cheap thrills. The acting is very good all around, I heard the soundtrack was somewhen nominated for an Oscar (I didn't notice much of the score) and Russell's weird visuals still come through 22 years after the movie's release. I had a few problems with the rather clichéd ending (love conquers mushrooms...) and how the religious undertones somehow got thrown overboard during the movie. But after all I thought this was a very cool watch and I'd recommend ALTERED STATES to all of you.
8/10