Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Glen And Randa



the most realistic "post apocalyptic" movie ever
I'll keep it short. This film follows two teenagers through their attempts to cope in a world strewn with the debris of a collapsed civilisation (ours). Oddly poignant and wonderfully lacking in any pretentious silliness about "what might happen," i would recommend this film to anyone who likes films that address the ways real human beings try to get by in their lives and also has a penchant for quality science fiction.

A small sad vision of the post-apocalypse
Before Jim McBride became a famous producer/director, he made the ultra low budget "Glen and Randa" in 1970. Long considered a mini-sci'fi masterpiece by film cultists everywhere, G&R tells the slight story of two naive teens wandering a doomed landscape like a new Adam and Eve-- looking for the magical city of Metropolis.
The futileness of their quest is brought home in that we (the audience) know from the outset-- there is no such place. This makes the movie's touching conclusion all the more sad.
Shot for about a dollar "Glen and Randa" none-the-less, delivers its message of humanity's last gasp with aplomb and gravity.
This film deserves a comprehensive DVD release.

The Search for Metropolis
This is a post-apocalypic film in which a young man, accompained by his pregnant girl friend, search for the city of Metropolis, which he had seen in a comic book he found.

I originally saw it in its theatrical release, when it was X-rated due to sex and nudity (the film begins with the couple making love in a car body stuck in a tree). It's pretty mild by today's standards.

I was impressed at the time with the scenes of people searching through a ruined Howard Johnson's for canned goods. However, the quality of the video makes the characteristic orange roof muddy and unrecognizable. I also like the couple's meeting with an old man, who hadn't spoken to anyone years, and has difficulty remembering how to talk. It's little touches like that that are part of its charm.

But although it's the same film, the quality of the transfer to video (at least the copy I have) is poor. One brief scene also repeats in the video, a little disconcerting. It's too bad, because it's really is...

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