Beyond The Black Rainbow [HD]

The road to hell is paved with good intentions
Just because most of the films you watch have easily discernible plots does not mean that films presented otherwise are poorly made. Think of Beyond the Black Rainbow as poetry, not as a novel. If you need a clear explanation stay away from this film. You'll hate it. If you can enjoy the bizarre, wild mood, and viscerally gorgeous photographic visuals then stick around. If you enjoy films where everything is not spelled out for you then this too might be a sign that Beyond the Black Rainbow is for you. Think of it as the privilege of entering someone else's dream.

In the vein of Land of the Lost, Space 1999, Liquid Sky, Altered States, Coma, Looker, THX1138, Scanners, 2001, and filmmakers like Kubrick, David Cronenberg, Stan Brakhage, Kenneth Anger and dozens of other films and filmmakers I know and don't know from the 70s and 80s comes Beyond the Black Rainbow. It is a fever dream of a film that is more experience than linear narrative. Imagine a B film from the 1980s was...

Return to Sci Fi's Art Age
I will warn you right up front: if someone tells you this film is similar to Kubrick, they are wrong... or at least not scholars of Sci-Fi. This is much much closer to Tarkovsky (a director who makes Kubrick look introductory with regards to cinema).

The story starts out slowly, it never really explains what exactly has happened (ala Tarkovsky's Stalker or the middle period works of Jodorowsky), which is precisely how things should be done.

Adding to the atmosphere as the film builds, is the excellent soundtrack by Black Mountain's keyboard player/organist Jeremy Schmidt, who really adds to that whole retro vibe.

More than anything, I'm hoping that this film is a sign of a return to the weird/boundary pushing science fiction of the 70s. It recalls the era of Tarkovsky's hey day, The Holy Mountain, Black Moon, countless other films that are incredible, insular, and lush.

If none of this scares you, it is well worth your time. Honestly...

Headtrip, 80's-style
Though he may not be a household name, I've enjoyed much of director George P. Cosmatos' work, including Rambo: First Blood Part II, Cobra, Leviathan, Tombstone and the underrated Of Unknown Origin, wherein Peter Weller goes nuts and destroys his home in an attempt to kill a rodent of particular nuisance. His better-known films may have never risen above entertaining popcorn-fare, but it's clear he had an economy of style and the ability to push forward a cohesive narrative. George passed away in 2005, but the "film gene" passed to his son Panos Cosmatos, whom has presented us with his debut feature, "Beyond the Black Rainbow," a film that could not be further from the style and presentation of his father, which, in this case, is meant as a compliment and not a criticism.

The plot is minimalist at best, centering on a mostly mute young girl named Elena (Eva Allen, at times resembling a cleaned up version of the albino Grudge ghost), who possesses psychic powers, and her...

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