Transcendence

S

Sad Max

Artful Dodger
It's a lousy thread title, but I couldn't think of a better one.

Certain films transcend themselves, in the sense that they convey a more profound meaning and/or moving story for the viewer than their technical and creative qualities would really suggest.

For example, there's George Romero's Knight Riders. When I think about that movie, I think of moving themes of friendship and honor and courage and the story of a man struggling to live by an ancient code in a modern and hostile world. But frankly if I were to describe it to someone else, I might as easily talk about cheesy low-displacement motorcycle jousting, indifferent cinematography, dreadful 70s New-Age mumbo-jumbo and Stephen King inflicting genuine horror upon an audience via his efforts in the direction of acting.

What films work for you, at this level - not just guilty pleasures, but works that convey really substantial moving themes despite a cheap-and cheerful (and maybe cheesy) execution?
 
I think a good chunk of George Romero's movies fit into this category. Dawn of the Dead is another one that really speaks a message, but doesn't exactly look pretty.
 
"Pump Up The Volume" Though we're all aware that Christian Slater's need to emulate Jack Nicholson is his strength/weakness, this film could only have been made when it was. Radio now is hum-drum, and predictable, but the film made me really think that "Happy Harry Hardon" was based on a real high school radio rebel. and maybe it was, i dunno.
 
Blade Runner.

Here's the synopsis:

In a cyberpunk vision of the future, man has developed the technology to create replicants, human clones used to serve in the colonies outside Earth but with fixed lifespans. In Los Angeles, 2019, Deckard is a Blade Runner, a cop who specialises in terminating replicants. Originally in retirement, he is forced to re-enter the force when six replicants escape from an offworld colony to Earth.

Los Angeles, 2019: Rick Deckard of the LAPD's Blade Runner unit prowls the steel & micro-chip jungle of the 21st century for assumed humanoids known as 'replicants'. Replicants were declared illegal after a bloody mutiny on an Off-World Colony, and are to be terminated upon detection. Man's obsession with creating a being equal to himself has back-fired.


Deckard is a Blade Runner, a police man of the future who hunts down and terminates replicants, artificially created humans. He wants to get out of the force, but is drawn back in when 4 "skin jobs", a slang term for replicants, hijack a ship back to Earth. The city that Deckard must search for his prey is a huge, sprawling, bleak vision of the future. This film questions what it is to be human, and why life is so precious.


OK... now if you'll allow me a little creative license (read this buzzed if possible :) )

I see the replicants as a metaphor for humans that want to get into "heaven" (back with the creator)... but since they have "no souls" and aren't welcome in heaven, they have to fight their way in... and once they get in, it's a fruitless pursuit of satisfaction that never comes... Their frustration with the lack of acceptance and answers makes them murderous. The replicants are chasing something they can't have (just like I think many of us are).

Once they get into "heaven" they meet Deckard (like the arch-angel Michael, if you will... "God's" chosen killer)... but the creation is more capable then the creators... which nearly costs Deckard ("Michael") his life... but the creation (replicants) was only searching for purpose and validation of itself ("the meaning of life" as we all jokingly ask about)... and once the creation is satisfied with it's pursuit... even though it/he never really gets the answer it/he was searching for... he dies (if I recall correctly, by choice).

Deckard (hunter of replicants) chooses one of "the enemy..." for a "wife"... demonstrating his understanding... and adding further commentary on the larger idea of who belongs "in heaven" and who doesn't. (Are you "saved"... no? Then you don't get in here... but Deckard is an observer... seeing beyond all that metaphoric Dogma.)

I'm sorry if I'm not saying this well... I'm having trouble finding the words... but I think Blade Runner is a commentary on all of our personal struggles with purpose... humanity (what defines humanity)... God issues... Love... and the meaning of life... even though, on the surface... it just looks like sci-fi noire.

I guess you could argue that's what it's already about... and not transcendent. (sorry, now I see you were asking for cheerful... I thought you mainly wanted our opinion of movies that were personally transcendent)...

:lipsrseal
 
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Two John Boorman films that I absolutely love (and since Sad Max mentioned an Arthurian themed film), Excalibur and Zardoz.

Both films feel dated by today's FX and visual style standards, but the fact that they don't try to bowl the viewer over with eye candy makes focusing on the story and themes a bit easier because of less visual distraction. I guess the same could be said for a lot of older films that are good on their own merits, and were made with more than short term profit goals in mind or to follow a then popular trend.

Another one is Peter Jackson's Bad Taste. Yes it is a super low budget and cheesy horror/action/slapstick comedy that has blatantly no budget FX, but it just oozes love, sweat, and tremendous effort. You can feel the love Jackson had for his bizarre creations, characters, and wacked-out set pieces. For a no-budget film it is just so freaking ambitious, which to me is inspiring, more so than something like El Mariachi or Clerks. It is also just so much fun in a cartoonish way.
 
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My all time favorite film Matt and I agree with your evaluation of what it means. That is why no other Sci-Fi film has even come close to the great story that Bladerunner tells.

Dan
 
MattinSTL said:
I'm sorry if I'm not saying this well... I'm having trouble finding the words... but I think Blade Runner is a commentary on all of our personal struggles with purpose... humanity (what defines humanity)... God issues... Love... and the meaning of life... even though, on the surface... it just looks like sci-fi noire.
Click to expand...

puredrifting said:
My all time favorite film Matt and I agree with your evaluation of what it means. That is why no other Sci-Fi film has even come close to the great story that Bladerunner tells.

Dan
Click to expand...

Agreed and agreed. Blade Runner is one of those films that seems to have variable interpretations from viewer to viewer.

I also see a theme (maybe a sub-theme as it is not exclusively about this) on the whole trend of corporations that are totally out of control, or at least Blade Runner was sort of predicting it in its own way. The whole atmosphere of 2019 Los Angeles is so polluted, what with the opening shot of the eye and the hellish industrial landscape with the massive Tyrell building looming on the horizon. There are the blimps with giant flatscreens proclaiming to the citizens that a better life awaits them on the Off-world colonies, most likely set up by corporations, not unlike the Weyland Yutani (The Company) featured in the first three Alien films.

Of course there is the arrogance of the corporations like Tyrell, assuming that they can play God in a sense by creating artificial human beings in our image, the replicants. Then the fact that the replicants are so controlled (4 year lifespan) and used basically as slaves to give the rich a better life. I don't see replicants helping the down and out like JF Sebastian or even Deckard, since I never got the impression that they could afford a replicant sex slave or butler to take care of things and cook and clean for them.

Now, this all might feel very relevant today, what with the economic crash and the financial institutions that hold so much power seeming to be very corrupt or out of control, but that also makes Blade Runner so ahead of its time. It still feels relevant thematically as it ages, even though it's future cyberpunk noir world was dated as being only ten years from now.
 
Clerks II. Great story about friendship, and seeing what's right in front of you instead of always looking past the horizon to something "better".
 
Billy Jack. Effectively tackles some fairly heavy stuff like racism, prejudice and crappy treatment of returning vets, while remaining distinctly low-budget and frankly kind of pedestrian, doing it.

Plus, music by Coven.
 
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