Willi Tobler and the Destruction of the 6th Fleet, a very odd German sci-fi picture from 1972. Disjointed style, odd off-center dialog.
The Amazon editorial review: “Alexander Kluge of the New German Cinema returns to the conventions of science fiction for this assault on the German establishment. During the War of the Galactic Citizens, Willi Tobler decides to rid himself of his material possessions and responsibilities after his sector is bombarded. He not only leaves behind his belongings but also his wife and child, seeking security from the ravages of space war. He volunteers to be the public relations man for the Chief Admiral of the 6th Fleet, but his new life does not give him the security he wanted. With its intentionally low-budget look and offbeat intertitles, Willi Tobler and the Decline of the 6th Fleet evokes the hand-crafted effects of Georges Melies. Combined with a dependence on improvisation, the film also serves as an example of radical experimentation within a popular genre.”
…and it has a sister movie, The Big Mess, which is done in the same style.
Both movies went into my “donate to Goodwill” pile.
And it has a sequel*, Manderlay, with a similar minimalist sound-stage setting.
*It continues with some of the Dogville characters in a new place, an Alabama plantation on which slavery is still practiced. In 1933. Some of the returning characters are played by different actors than in Dogville, and some of the Dogville actors play new characters in Manderlay.
There’s a whole series of Cube movies, and I’ve seen several of them, but didn’t find most of them all that weird (at least not how most of this thread seems to define strange).
Unlike, say, Eraserhead, which I tried to watch and only made to about 10-15 mins in then said “fuck this” and stopped.
I don’t think it counts as very mainstream, but I did manage to watch Southland Tales in its entirety and wished I hadn’t. Certainly the weirdest thing I’ve made it all the way through. I don’t even remember much about it other than it being weird.
Much more mainstream was Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me. Still very weird, but I’d just watched the whole (then) series (also weird, but I enjoyed it).
I can’t think of the name, but there was this movie on Netflix about a bunch of people that are trapped in some weird place and have to keep voting off people to be killed. (great description, huh?)
That’s because large portions of The Satyricon were lost over time so, to the modern reader, the narrative seems confused, disjointed, and abrupt. Fellini’s adaptation was trying to capture that quality.
Kongo (1932) was a pre Hayes code remake of “West of Zanzibar” set deep in darkest Africa. Protagonist uses magic tricks to set himself as a leader of an African tribe. He had taken the infant daughter his hated enemy (who caused him to become crippled and who ran off with his wife) Daughter is raised in a Convent school, spirited away to a brothel, finally ending up in the African village.
When her fate is described, the phrase “You can’t do that to a white woman!” was said
Hubby and I were watching it together and simultaneously asked if we really heard what was just said.
It gets weireder :eek:
Good call. Immensely entertaining–I seem to recall seeing it in the theatre three or four times on its first release–but it was obviously the product of someone whose imagination just didn’t work in the same way as anybody else’s.
Indeed. Believe it or not I had to read Petronius’s version in Latin class (albeit in English translation).
Still, with the peripheral characters routinely staring into the camera, people flicking their tongues or ‘dancing’ with their arms and hands, the repulsive meals, etc., the movie is weird in itself. Plus, I seem to remember reading that Fellini was doing LSD around the time he made it. Of course, he was not alone in that.
What I thought was brilliant about this one was that the bad guy is essentially Batman. However, he’s a realistic version, who ends up being abused in foster care after watching his parents get murdered and he turns out as psychotic as one would expect.
I’d rate Tusk as fairly conventional body horror (although the ending was certainly not what we might have been expecting). For a real WTF, the next movie in Smith’s Great White North trilogy is Yoga Hosers, a movie about two teenage girls who fight tiny Nazis made out of bratwurst. The trailer tells you pretty much everything you need to know and shows off the highlight reel moment of the whole thing, Harley Quinn Smith yelling “I’M NOT EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE HERE TODAY!”
No news yet on Moose Jaws (which is going to be exactly what it sounds like) but I’ll give Kevin Smith time since he’s been busy having a heart attack and doing a Jay and Silent Bob Reboot in the meantime.