On the Silver Globe


1988 Polish unfinished sci-fi film

Rating: 15/20

Plot: Polish people arrive on a new planet.

Found footage weirdness with all these perfectly coordinated little movements and some wonderful imagery including impossible shots of these people impaled on twenty-foot poles on a beach, bird guys in a graveyard, and an explosive earthquake sequence with puffs of soil and toppling trees keep this worth watching even when it's painfully dull and way too talky. Director Andrzej Zulawski wasn't able to finish this project because the Polish government didn't like how much of the lines were screamed (or something), and the missing bits are filled in with Zulawski's narration while he shows pedestrians walking on Polish sidewalks or people riding down escalators. The narrated bit with the escalator is sadly almost as riveting as a lot of the other scenes in this lengthy movie. The characters really never do shut up, and the diatribes, dialogue, and declarations are really dense. And they really are mostly screamed by these actors and actresses giving these expressionistic performances.

I had a tough time understanding what was going on a lot of the time, likely because I'm not very smart. But when the astronaut started riding around some desert in a car while the score amped up with some guitar music, I was even more confused.

A flamboyant character reminded me of Brian Eno, but I don't think it was him.

Anyway, I'm glad I'm able to see this and glad that I watched it. It was kind of a tough watch though.

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