Surrealism
Noah’s Barks pages relating to the surrealism genre.
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1001 Nights
Not to be confused with Osamu Tezuka’s 1969 film, ‘1001 Nights’ is a short film from 1998 that features the surreal, evocative art of Final Fantasy alum Yoshitaka Amano. (read more)
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
I’ve never read the Hunter S. Thompson novel but I’ve no doubt it establishes its themes better by keeping Raoul Duke as a constant narrator. For all his ramblings about the American Dream in the movie, the fact that any other conception of the American Dream isn’t established means his philosophy is relative to absolutely… (read more)
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Céline and Julie Go Boating
The theme to take away from ‘Céline and Julie Go Boating’ is the opposite of what it likely aims for: some art is too distant to attempt to make your own. (read more)
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eXistenZ
David Cronenberg was about 56 years old at the time of writing eXistenZ and tackles the virtual reality craze as intelligently as you’d expect an old man to: embarrassingly. Technically and thematically, it’s just as instantly dated and worn out as other virtual reality stories around the same time, only it’s nihilistic so it persists,… (read more)
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Naked Lunch
The most shocking thing about Naked Lunch is how such an insanely weird movie ends up so incredibly boring. The 100% deadpan humor cannot survive for two hours, and the bizarre focus on constant exposition otherwise eventually makes this a life-sucking watch. A real shame, as the aesthetics are fantastic, and for the first 40… (read more)
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Serial Experiments Lain
‘Serial Experiments Lain’ is a gripping, shockingly prescient, surrealist metaphorical exploration of how the internet can warp one’s self-perception and their relationship to the world around them. (read more)
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Millennium Actress
Directed by Satoshi Kon, ‘Millennium Actress’ is a fictional drama about a legendary actress’s career and personal life, with the two narratives interweaving into one kaleidoscopic, romantic journey. (read more)
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Inland Empire
Inland Empire (IE) beats out Eraserhead for the scarier surrealist movie, mostly because it has much less of David Lynch‘s diffident, “unintentional” humor. Frustratingly enough, that humor still shows up in IE from time to time, but despite its incomprehensibility, IE is somewhat entertaining in how manic and disturbing it is, where Lynch’s earlier cryptographs… (read more)
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Mulholland Drive
Mulholland Drive works because David Lynch finally bends his surrealism around a storyline instead of shoving the storyline into the surrealism. Because Mulholland Drive is fairly straightforward, it provides the audience a tangible mystery and characters to motivate the deciphering of its plot. Amidst the chilling confusion are several memorable scenes that keep attention throughout… (read more)
