Rewind #29

Crystal Castles: Crystal Castles (2008)

Here's some real good chic techno music that descends into complete chaos at times. I want to call it technopunk, even, but don't know if it actually can carry the moniker. After punk flashed through the pan in the late seventies/early eighties, we were subjected to an endless array of bands being labeled as punk. None of them could truly be called punk because punk was always something different that you could never find on the radio. Even some of the punk bands from the early days that somehow found airtime, like the Ramones and the Replacements, had lost their punk edge by the time they found the ears of the masses. Punk is madness, angrified. It is a shout beyond the idea of control. It can't be bottled or labeled or embraced by a structured society. It's very purpose is meant to break down walls, so it will always be a fringe wave...then, every once in awhile it magnifies into something tidal. So yeah, I don't think I can call the Crystal Castles technopunk but there are moments when their sound bleeds through the headphones, causing my functioning brain to cease its banal analysis of life. No...don't...think...only...listen!



Tideland: Terry Gilliam (2005)

Waited to see this movie for a long time because it got such bad reviews. Normally that doesn't phase us when it comes to a Terry Gilliam film because, well, he's an absolute genius, after all. But there really was nothing good coming from the atmosphere regarding Tideland. It's a shame actually, because Gilliam made a good movie. I know that he falls back on some of his typical wierdness but dammnit, I'd rather watch his weird crap than other typical shite constantly being shoved down our throats. I'd rather watch Jeff Bridges decay in a barcalounger for an hour then mummified by an ex-girlfriend who is an accomplished taxidermist. I'd rather look into the mind of a young girl as she tries to navigate a world where she has to shoot up her junkie parents. I'd rather follow down the rabbit hole of surreal imagination than watch part four of some dumb action movie series that has no imagination whatsoever. Gilliam toils where few directors will tread and he has the insight to confuse audiences just enough to wonder what they are watching. In Tideland, so many of the comments that we read on this here bolgosphere questioned Gilliam's sanity regarding the inappropriate relationship between Jeliza Rose, our unlikely hero, and Dickens, a young man with severe brain damage. Every moment of this relationship, as it is portrayed upon the screen, develops completely naturally and the innocence of their game never crosses the line. Those who were offended probably need to look at the deviance in their own hearts to discover the real offense. Terry Gilliam takes these uncharted paths to alter the perception of average viewers, to make them uncomfortable with the way that they watch movies. That's what he's been doing in this business for thirty-odd years and I don't want him to change a thing.