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Post by Cryogenic on May 28, 2021 22:43:53 GMT
Because it's George Lucas' first feature film, it's fantastic, and because of where society is now seemingly headed: www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57287151You are a true believer Blessings of the state Blessings of the masses Thou art a subject of the divine Created in the image of man By the masses For the masses Let us be thankful we have an occupation to fill Work hard Increase production Prevent accidents And be happy |
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Post by smittysgelato on May 28, 2021 23:10:08 GMT
Well, that's certainly a bastardization of mindfulness by Amazon, hahaha. I can't believe I haven't rewatched THX-1138 recently. I imagine I will get more out of it at 31 than I did at 20.
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Post by Cryogenic on May 28, 2021 23:21:15 GMT
Well, that's certainly a bastardization of mindfulness by Amazon, hahaha. No shit. AmaZen??? That crap makes me puke. If I hadn't come across that article on the BBC website, I'd have assumed I was reading a parody. They won't let workers unionise and some are forced (due to insane work targets) to urinate in a cup, but the tax-dodging company will happily co-opt Buddhism ( McMindfulness) for its own greedy purposes and encourage workers to enter a coffin-sized box when they're feeling down (i.e., not productive enough). Diabolical. You almost certainly will.  I need to give it a fresh re-watch myself. Hard to believe it turned 50 this year! What an awesomely prescient film by an awesomely prescient guy. |
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Post by eljedicolombiano on May 29, 2021 2:15:07 GMT
George was quite a fan of Godard during his time at USC- this movie does borrow quite a bit from Godard's sci-fi noir "Alphaville" By the way smittysgelato love your avatar- Audrey Hepburn is one of my favorite actresses. |
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Post by smittysgelato on May 29, 2021 3:54:28 GMT
One detail from THX that I do remember, that is very very interesting is the fact that the system (basically the Empire) keeps track of how much it costs to chase down Duvall in the climactic chase. After a certain point, he is considered too costly to pursue. It really adds to the suspense but is twistedly funny at the same time. It makes one wonder how much trouble you'd have to be before the bad guys give up. eljedicolombiano Audrey is the best human of all time. The only reason the universe continues to exist is so that it can bask in the glory of its masterpiece. |
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Post by Moonshield on May 29, 2021 4:53:56 GMT
I watched this film a couple of weeks ago. Absolutely amazing.
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Post by Cryogenic on May 29, 2021 12:27:26 GMT
George was quite a fan of Godard during his time at USC- this movie does borrow quite a bit from Godard's sci-fi noir "Alphaville" Indeed. I just found this review, which is a solid read and delves into the "Alphaville" (as well as the "2001" and "21-87") connection(s): (It also makes some connections with Star Wars, but I'll leave you to read through those). kitbashed.com/blog/thx-1138-1971Some pieces that I've stuck together: It also includes this interesting quote from Lucas on the impact of 2001: Sometimes, I wonder, without 2001, would THX/AG/SW have existed at all??? * * * One detail from THX that I do remember, that is very very interesting is the fact that the system (basically the Empire) keeps track of how much it costs to chase down Duvall in the climactic chase. After a certain point, he is considered too costly to pursue. It really adds to the suspense but is twistedly funny at the same time. It makes one wonder how much trouble you'd have to be before the bad guys give up. Yep! That was one of several parts that stuck with me after my first viewing. Tight-fisted bureaucracy. There's maybe an echo of this in Star Wars at certain points, like in ROTJ where the Empire guards the shield generator on Endor with all of about fifty stormtroopers (and a few chicken-walkers); and in the PT, the Trade Federation gets its greedy way by suppressing populations with goofy robot armies (albeit there are rather a lot of them and they end up being quite intimidating in large numbers). Palpatine also mostly sits around and seems to hate wasted energy (most of the characters go to him -- e.g., "There's Senator Palpatine waiting for us"). LOL. Aww!!! I say that in my head about Elvis. I mean, 2001, the Wow! signal... Well, I guess you had to be there. Could even be true. I like the idea that the universe is held up by certain "Atlases" -- or Chosen Ones. Special "clone units" that have unique talents and go on to do remarkable things. If we don't want God/the aliens to "delete" the simulation, might as well aspire to be interesting, as Ray Kurzweil has said. I watched this film a couple of weeks ago. Absolutely amazing. Wonderful! You are now a member of the tribe.   |
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Post by Moonshield on May 29, 2021 16:29:52 GMT
Wait. What? Yeah. The prophecy. "MY TIME IS YOURS." Daaaaamn. What a wonderful scene. The writing, the composition in cinematography, Duvall's performance... great. Great. And I read "Fahrenheit 451" and "1984" before that. Imagine my experience of watching this movie. It is incredible. Orwell had the "Big Brother", but Lucas could have done this in so subtle way, that it looks stunning. Also, I watched "Shawshank Redemption" and "V for Vendetta" before that. Maggie McOmie with shaved head... great. Watching the last scene, when THX escapes from the underground city, I thought: "Damn! It looks like Shawshank Redemption!" and in "Making of THX 1138" Darabont said that it was one of his first movies in childhood. Maggie's performance - three times great. The amount of anxiety and how haggard she is - it is just amazing. Having Duvall with his great performance and to get the performance with the same level from an aspiring actress who will agree to shave her head - again, absolutely incredible. Every film from this director is just fantastic. |
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Post by smittysgelato on May 29, 2021 19:36:48 GMT
CryogenicI read through your Elvis post in the other thread. I didn't know Elvis was into numerology. Creative people are into a lot of strange stuff. Jung, for example, was interested in astrology, alchemy, and seances. The more I read about the great minds of the 20th century, the more I realize the 20th century is far from what I initially thought it was. Your Elvis post also mentions synchronicities. Can't say I have noticed any of those in my own life. So that remains a concept that I find to be an odd curiosity. Perhaps synchronicity is real, perhaps it is not. Back to THX. Moonshield lists all of these films that seem to be influenced by THX. Another would be Tron: Legacy. That movie has George Lucas' fingerprints all over it. The ending especially screams THX. Tron: Legacy also ties back into the initial motivation for this thread: the strange confluence of spirituality and technology (AmaZEN). The confluence of spirituality and technology in the past decade seemed especially pronounced, and I think Tron: Legacy may have been ahead of the curve on that one!
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Post by Cryogenic on May 29, 2021 21:00:45 GMT
Wait. What? Yeah. The prophecy. "MY TIME IS YOURS." Daaaaamn. What a wonderful scene. The writing, the composition in cinematography, Duvall's performance... great. Great. And I read "Fahrenheit 451" and "1984" before that. Imagine my experience of watching this movie. It is incredible. Orwell had the "Big Brother", but Lucas could have done this in so subtle way, that it looks stunning. It's a great film. And it's got a ton of unsettling epigrams, including the tagline of the film: "THE FUTURE IS HERE." In fact, the other tagline is pretty bleak, and we find a close repeat of it on a certain Star Wars poster:   Heh. It's George Lucas -- so, yeah, absolutely. Here's another neat resonance between THX and the PT:  "Blessings of the state. Blessings of the masses."
"Mourn them, do not. Miss them, do not."
Cryogenic I read through your Elvis post in the other thread. I didn't know Elvis was into numerology. Creative people are into a lot of strange stuff. Jung, for example, was interested in astrology, alchemy, and seances. The more I read about the great minds of the 20th century, the more I realize the 20th century is far from what I initially thought it was. A very humbling statement! Anyway, yes -- Elvis was into numerology, and he had numerous books on esoteric/mystical concepts. He actually spent time, as well, at a retreat in Los Angeles, California known as the Self-Realization Fellowship Temple. In the mid-1960s, when a lot of people were "turning on, tuning in, and dropping out", he went into his own spiritual retreat, of sorts; and even took some mind-altering substances at that time (a serious drug addiction to barbiturates would dominate his life in the 1970s and end his life prematurely (or not) at age 42). Indeed, he got so far into that way of living, for a few years, that one may say he entered a malaise (he was dissatisfied with many aspects of his life and seemingly looking for a way out). In 1967, after tripping over a power cord and concussing himself from a sharp blow against a bathtub, an intervention was staged by his management. As a result, his Machiavellian manager, Colonel Parker (I always find it interesting that those are the initials of Chancellor Palpatine -- Chosen Ones being preyed upon, needing father figures, and all the rest), managed to convince him to burn his spiritual books (though Elvis later reacquired many of them). There certainly are many aspects of people's lives that are either hidden from view or waiting for discovery. Humans are pretty complex in their beliefs and behaviours, and the only "normal" person is someone you don't know too well. But again, what a statement there! It exemplifies the notion that there is always more to learn in life, to paraphrase Yoda. If you think you know the territory, something will always surprise you. The 20th Century, in particular, was a crazy century -- and we wouldn't have Star Wars (or, indeed, the lives we have now, for better or worse) without it. |
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Post by Ingram on May 29, 2021 21:06:47 GMT
Orwell's 1984 is about us versus them. Lucas' THX 1138 is simply about us. There is no Big Brother, no Ministry of Truth, no authority or centralization separate from the workers. There doesn't have to be. The entire society as depicted is a society of de-individuals, with no one or group having any discernible reign over another but merely an apathetic deference to a daily system of activities and rules. It's a prison of the mind.
Consequently, the movie is also an abstract comedy—a Sahara dry work of absurdism. The robot security officers for instance are palliative; they entertain children and occasionally walk into walls; they can be easily knocked over and stomped to pieces. They're an infrastructural joke. There's a scene where THX ("Thex") is being psychically tortured by remote, through video monitoring, not at the hands of perverse overlords but only incidentally by a couple of technicians heard off-screen attempting to understand dials and switches and calibrations.
Just a few passing thoughts. I haven't the caffeine necessary to unload my appraisal of the film in its entirety.
As for Amazon's "wellness chamber"... It probably wouldn't be so bad if, instead of Zen-garden-vegan-medatation-man-crying bullshit, it offered their employees 15-minute downtime for first-person shooter gaming, sound proofed '80s metal cacophony and porn. What's the fuckin' problem, Amazon? Care.
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Post by Moonshield on May 30, 2021 4:29:06 GMT
Cryogenic Back to THX. Moonshield lists all of these films that seem to be influenced by THX. Another would be Tron: Legacy. Equilibrium
UPD. One of my favourive films ever is Daybreakers. It doesn't have any influence from THX (it isn't a dystopia even - only traits), but it is very great. Themes of greed and of the value of human life are fantastic.
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Post by eljedicolombiano on Jun 22, 2021 2:35:10 GMT
As for Amazon's "wellness chamber"... It probably wouldn't be so bad if, instead of Zen-garden-vegan-medatation-man-crying bullshit, it offered their employees 15-minute downtime for first-person shooter gaming, sound proofed '80s metal cacophony and porn. What's the fuckin' problem, Amazon? Care.
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Post by Ingram on Jun 22, 2021 9:07:37 GMT
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Post by jppiper on Jun 22, 2021 11:35:10 GMT
One detail from THX that I do remember, that is very very interesting is the fact that the system (basically the Empire) keeps track of how much it costs to chase down Duvall in the climactic chase. After a certain point, he is considered too costly to pursue. It really adds to the suspense but is twistedly funny at the same time. It makes one wonder how much trouble you'd have to be before the bad guys give up. eljedicolombiano Audrey is the best human of all time. The only reason the universe continues to exist is so that it can bask in the glory of its masterpiece. she left us too soon |
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Post by Moonshield on Jun 23, 2021 7:00:39 GMT
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Post by Samnz on Jun 23, 2021 13:21:13 GMT
I love THX 1138. It's a great film. My favourite part is the first third of the film and I adore the scene where THX attempts to rationalize his developing feelings for LUH with OHM, breaks down and LUH finds him. The music, the sound effects, the images are all just so unsettling and there is this beautiful tenderness in the way LUH takes THX's hand and that hauting musical finish. After THX and LUH as well as Anakin and Padmé, there is no way to convince me that George Lucas isn't great at doing love stories.
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Post by Subtext Mining on Jan 4, 2024 7:37:06 GMT
How does LUH have freckles if she's never seen the sun?
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Post by ArchdukeOfNaboo on Jan 21, 2024 17:46:11 GMT
I have yet to see THX. To judge from the excerpt Cryo has posted, I would not have have guessed that Lucas was the man behind it. It strikes me as something made by an esoteric French director of the 60s or 70s.
But then Star Wars had its own form of esotericism, didn't it? The enormous commercial success of ANH, or indeed of any popular film, tends to obscure us from the textual richness. We become so familiar with the art that our mind takes for granted, seises to be stunned and the memory of our first revelatory experience fades into the night.
Perhaps then, this is why we write about Star Wars. Not to signal that we are "fans", not to show we have passionate for a "franchise", nor even to parrot that Harrison Ford is so handsome. No, we do so to keep the threat of familiarity at bay, for we are all vulnerable to its numbing effect. It is an act of keeping oneself in tune with that great discovery of our childhoods, of making George Lucas fresh, relevant, insightful and luminous. To remind ourselves that Lucas is not stale but a bold, original artist of many layers, each to peal like an onion.
Anyhow, the comparison with that Amazon "mindfullness" box is chilling. Once again Lucas turns to be prescient.
Just a few passing thoughts. I haven't the caffeine necessary to unload my appraisal of the film in its entirety.
We await with eager.
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Post by eljedicolombiano on Jan 30, 2024 23:28:20 GMT
I saw the movie commentary of THX over the weekend, with George and Walter Murch. I greatly enjoyed it, and the movie is a lot better than I remembered. There's no question in my mind George was already a brilliant director by then
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I need to give it a fresh re-watch myself.
