Time Bandits

Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits (1981) doesn't seem similar to the director's output at first. But after a group of time traveling dwarves pop out of an American kid's closet (while being chased by a floating, animated head), you know you are watching a Gilliam flick. The film tells the story of the said group attempting rob the rich in different periods of time, but at some point the story takes a turn by introducing the main villain, "Evil Genius".

It seems as if Gilliam had run out of steam by the time he made this film. What begins as a peculiar social commentary turns into a series of peculiar recreations of historical events and then you are given the strangest cinematic battle ever. The film feels like a cheap Monty Python imitation with only a few good gags and no coherency of any sort. The characters are flat and not even funny - apart from Evil Genius who is a true delight in this confusing film. The screenplay only manages to become solid once the group gets into the fortress of the main villain. 

Even though the set and costume design are spot-on in their bizarreness, Gilliam's form is mostly hit-and-miss in terms of cinematography and editing. There is the same sort of uncontrolled and (horribly) alienation chaos in its form like there is in its content. 

Sadly Gilliam misses the potential of a great premise. His bizarre vision saves the film from being a failure, somehow.

Score: 5 out of 10

Dreams

Dreams (1990) was one of the last films Akira Kurosawa ever directed. It is a fragmented collection of dreams that aren't connected to each other in any way. They touch on many subjects and themes, but the final result is perplexing to say the least - because the film is hardly coherent at all. There's also a problem with the strong morals: they are handled in a ridiculously heavy-handed way. Although I have to admit that the dream involving Vincent Van Gogh was awesome.

While the content is challenging and confusing, the form is spot-on. Kurosawa never fails to create breathtaking imagery. The pacing is wonderfully dreamy and while that makes the film a bit harder to watch, it works well to enhance the unclear content. The musical score is delightful as well.

Dreams was certainly something new for Kurosawa, but this "experiment" doesn't work as well as it could have possibly worked.

Score: 5 out of 10

PS: I would be interested in reading a Jungian analysis of the dreams. Maybe that would make me understand the content better.

Tropical Malady

Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Tropical Malady (2004) is divided into two sections. One is set in modern world and it is closely in touch with reality, but the other handles fantasy and mythology in a peculiar way. These two separate stories are mostly connected by their focus on desire and both of them portray only one central relationship. The first segment is the story of a soldier (Banlop Lomnoi) falls in love with a country boy (Sakda Kaewbuadee) who seems to give some sort of affection in return, but it is never specified if it is love. The second segment focuses on a Thai myth in which a soldier chases a tiger in the jungle.

It is interesting how Weerasethakul creates a "discussion" between these two stories. This active connection between the two stories makes them a bit deeper and more fascinating. It is interesting to see the similarities in the central relationships (soldier+country boy, soldier+tiger). Weerasethakul throws in some distracting elements, like a cautionary tale in the first segment, and the awkward bits of mythology in second one. While the mythology serves as one of the key factors to support the segment's elements of fantasy, it is too vocally pointed at without it being a major element. It even reaches (unintentionally?) comical levels when a monkey starts speaking and offers some proper advice for the soldier. This film left me a bit puzzled: in a way, I could appreciate it for its poetic approach, but it isnt completely solid in that aspect.

Weerasethakul's form consists of long, static shots and usually there is no music to accompany the cinematography. Tropical Malady makes a few exceptions in the first segment: it includes a few off-beat sequences filled with music, and there are a few occasions in which the camera moves a lot. While the cinematography isnt necessarily great in Tropical Malady, its use of sound is brilliant. The silence is effective, and in the second segment the jungle literally becomes alive. It is a great sensory experience.

Typical Malady is a nice experimental film, but in the end it is uneven and lacks the finishing touch.

Score: 6 out of 10