Herostratus
Synopsis
a young poet hires a marketing company to turn his suicide-by-jumping into a mass-media spectacle
When Max, a young poet hires a marketing company to turn his suicide-by-jumping into a mass-media spectacle, he finds that his subversive intentions are quickly diluted into a reactionary gesture, and his motivations are revealed as a desperate attempt to seek attention through celebrity.
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An extraordinary, intelligent, dark, dazzling one of a kind movie, ripe for rediscovery after being unavailable for the last 30 or so years. The juxtaposition and montage technique are unlike anything i've seen before and still feel modern and creates an unique kind of, almost scientific surrealism that has very little in common with, say, with Buñuel or Lynch. My only minor complaint are the inserts from an Allen Ginsberg poetry reading, which I felt didn't connect with the other material and gives the film an unnecessary dated "60s counter culture" feel.
The acting from Michael Gothard and Gabriella Licudi, playing the two main characters Max and Clio, were nothing short of fantastic. At times you got the feeling they…
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An extraordinary, intelligent, dark, dazzling one of a kind movie, ripe for rediscovery after being unavailable for the last 30 or so years. The juxtaposition and montage technique are unlike anything i've seen before and still feel modern and creates an unique kind of, almost scientific surrealism that has very little in common with, say, with Buñuel or Lynch. My only minor complaint are the inserts from an Allen Ginsberg poetry reading, which I felt didn't connect with the other material and gives the film an unnecessary dated "60s counter culture" feel.
The acting from Michael Gothard and Gabriella Licudi, playing the two main characters Max and Clio, were nothing short of fantastic. At times you got the feeling they… -
This film really was a shame. It has some really good stuff in there. I love the idea of a guy wanting to commit suicide and wanting it to be seen by as many people as possible so he hires a marketing company to handle it for him. It’s a great story. The film also looks nice at times too. Some shots even look rather like the work of Kubrick. Some of the editing is great too and really ahead of it’s time. The problem is it’s all bogged down with random images thrown at the screen. I’m sure they all mean something in the context of the film as a whole but they just bored me and made the thing a chore to sit through. I also found the ending to be something of a non-event. I’m sure that’s the point but again, it didn’t make things anymore interesting for me.