Lisandro
7Apr13
Interestingly enough, the ending didn't bother me the second time around.
Wall
Displaying wall posts 1 - 30 of 71 in total
matteo
13Jun13
A bizarre cross between a music video by Daft Punk, an early David Cronenberg's short, and an episode of Space 1999. I recommend watching segments of 10-15 minutes with a electronica/ambient soundtrack - the dialogues are negligible anyway. It reminded my of Amer - the remediation of the Italian giallo' iconography and the 1970s athmosphere are worth the tragically slow pace and slim narrative.
glennonymous
17May13
A polarizing film about how the druggy idealism of the 60s vomited up the 80s and doomed us all. Slow and ethereal, with only the barest narrative thread. But: I. LOVED. THIS. MESMERIZING. FILM. It is Kubrickian and Lynchian and Delorian-Woodpanelian-Synthesizerian-Whiteplasticpyramidian & sticks with me indelibly like the bad trip that turns the central character into a monster. "Bring back the mother lode, Barry…"
Neo-Gloom
29Apr13
I wholeheartedly believe that this is one of the finest and most distinct feature debuts of the 2000's (so far at least.)
Funny how? and 4 others like this
christopherjohn
22Apr13
Quite gorgeous to look at, and almost impossibly visually authentic to the time period, but god how droning and empty. It would be nice to finish the film for the visual style, but god how boring.
Uli Cain, Cinefidel¹³ likes this
J. O.
27Mar13
Too simple of a story that's really not much more than a mash-up of the 80s "retro-futuristic" movies the filmmaker has drawn his inspiration from. Visually it was impressive at times, but overall tiring and gimmicky. You praise Cosmatos because he has emulated cross-fades and synth music like his favourite films? It's beyond pastiche, it's boring. This was a disappointing, lifeless affair.
$copie
27Feb13
Muted shadows, geometrically symmetric shots, and monotonous soundscapes create a window to a very dismal world in this retro-futurist sci-fi pic. So much so that in contrast, the scenes following the subject's escape from the institution and into the outside world are visually arresting. Michael Rogers exudes a paralytic and infectious sense of despair, a very poignant and memorable performance.
Lisandro
27Feb13
A pretty remarkable audiovisual experience that combines retro-futurist 80's aesthetics and the scifi sterility of 2001: A Space Odyssey with psychotic, Lynchian horror elements. The last quarter of the film was pretty disappointing, but I still think this is destined to be a cult classic.
Threske
17Jan13
Ultimately ineffectual plot exposition is forgivable when framed with some of the most distinctive, evocative, and sublimely atmospheric aural and visual aesthetics I've ever seen. Utterly alive with dreamlike, sterile alien menace, like a dimly-recalled nightmare, Beyond The Black Rainbow is an icy plexiglass, steel, fluorescent and analogue synth confluence of Tarkovsky, Lynch, THX 1138, Ridley Scott, et al. ★★★★
Luca Bottazzi and Cbarky99 like this
Luca Bottazzi
15Jan13
Visually stunning, but nothing more. Oh, have I already said it's visually stunning?
Pedro Tavares likes this
Sam Everett
11Jan13
Interesting first 30 min or so, but it all fell down beyond that. Rather inaccessible as a film, I only watches due to how interesting the trailer was to be honest. Could have been great...
Pedro Tavares and 3 others like this
Erik Gregersen
5Jan13
Imagine nearly a whole film done as the films-within-a-film in early Cronenberg (i.e., the interview with Revok in Scanners or the Videodrome signal), with nods to Kubrick, Tscherkassky, Lynch, Tarkovsky, THX 1138, Silent Running, Blade Runner, etc., etc. This actually feels like the visual record of some unspeakably hideous, incomprehensible psychological experiment. Pity about the last 10 minutes. But 1966, whoa.
Threske likes this
Beefy
25Nov12
A long trip into a drug addled, 80's state of being. Not much plot, and what there is isn't very original, the but the star of this film is the visuals. It gets into your head after a while. I forgot I was watching a movie and just let the visuals wash over me. I'd be scared to see what this film does to somehow who is actually on drugs. It would be an interesting double bill with THX-1138.
Mr. Arkadin
23Nov12
Watching this back-to-back with Boyle's *Sunshine*, it was surprising to find the similarities: Both basically devolve into a stalk-and-slash film at the end. And both have defenders who argue that the visual genius of the first 3/4 of each is enough to justify their disappointing finales. If both struggle to achieve something beyond visual homage (there's an awful lot of R. Scott being copped in the best parts of
HKFanatic likes this
Movie Blabber
21Nov12
THIS movie took me by surprise. It's actually more than just an effects trip, it's also a tale of decay and the limits of artifice.
Landen Celano
19Nov12
Its monotone apathetic nature grates on the nerves after a while, but man it's great to look at.
dschank
17Nov12
an admirable attempt to push the envelope past the lukewarm donnie-darko-surrealism of the 21st century (in favor of the batshit midnight movies of the past). most effective at its least linear, this is a decent cinematic counterpart to the "hauntology" recordings being released by ghost box music. still, some of the mysticism rings false - too much magickal-mystery-beardo-hipsterdom to properly enter the void...
MR. Universe
11Nov12
This film seems to be all about style.It's visuals rich and luminous and definately stylish thatare hypnotic. It really has no story asthe film goes on you think you will finally get to the bottom of things and reach an understanding. Unfortunately it never happens. It's just a confusing mess. Wish i could see what the filmmakers did with a good story. This feels like an art piece more then a overlong film
gea*
3Nov12
Although slow to the point where there's nothing going on with the exception of the hypnotic visuals, I still enjoyed the film til the last 15 minutes. Black Rainbow borrowed heavily from respectable films of its genre, but why bother ending it the way it did. When the out of place metal heads showed up, I should of known to turn it off right there.
jacqueslefou and MR. Universe like this
Erik Villasenor
25Oct12
Self indulgent pretentious garbage. But really, really, really good looking self indulgent pretentious garbage.
David likes this