From: Jason Joel Thompson (jasonjthompson@home.com)
Date: Mon Jan 15 2001 - 02:33:57 MST
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gina Miller" <nanogirl@halcyon.com>
> Did anyone else see existanz?
Saw it.
Love Cronenberg's imagination; he wisely surrounds himself with strong
filmmaking talent, and I am very interested in the subject material. I
enjoyed this movie.
But.
David likes to use his material to provoke. I appreciate that. I think,
however, that he has inadvertantly (or not?) placed this movie into a fuzzy
'non-commital' zone between commercial accessibility and artistic efficacy.
Hey, that's a smart zone to shoot for, very ambitious actually, but it's a
place from which it is very hard to make really good movies.
This movie represented (yet) another instance in which I had the sensation
that the director could have afforded to be a little bit closer to his
material. I actually have a lot of respect for Mr. Cronnenberg's process--
he is a meticulous director-- but as a devotee of the immersive storytelling
concept (perhaps I'm *too* close to the material...) I felt his treatment
lacked... intimacy.
I'm a little bit hard on this movie-- I anticipated it for many reasons, and
it actually is very well constructed. But, to be frank, I don't feel that
David Cronenberg successfully invented VR in this film. His construct was,
well, sort of prosaic actually. I would have appreciated a greater (or
lesser!) injection of eerie non sequitur, and more intelligence behind the
game plot.
I -do- recommend it however. The acting is very very good. There is
significant intelligence represented here.
I think it would be cool if this topic ellicts a constructive conversation
regarding VR-- I certainly have a lot to say on the subject! :)
--
::jason.joel.thompson::
::founder::
::wild.ghost.studios | www.wildghost.com
::kung.fu.blue
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