Wonderwall (2000)

Awesome, even though a victim of its own art.

One will likely struggle to persevere through this movie, but the last three minutes is suddenly so firmly grounded that, depending on one's life experience, it can be rewarding beyond belief. The story is set in the psychedelic mod period of the late 1960s, but it is not really about the drug culture, and in fact infers that the doors of cosmic perception are open to all. While the visuals are amateurish, and George Harrison's excellent soundtrack is often distractingly out of sync with the action, the movie persists as a multilayered exposition of the most essential themes of existence: A dysfunctional voyeuristic scientist finds courage, redemption and insight in a simple selfless act. A neighbor's pregnancy becomes an engine of destiny for him as he is blessed with the burden of comprehending that its prerogatives will ultimately destroy his heartfelt daydreams. As a scientist he is at ease in the world of the very small and very large, where human perception and understanding trails off, and he becomes increasingly cognizant that the great beyond is the heart of existence, that it is our world that is on the fringe. Finally an awareness of unacknowledged love and thanks infuses him and he becomes at peace with what, to any onlooker, would seem to be a most empty lonely life. I have viewed and appreciated the most essential movies committed to film, and I have never seen one which, upon reflection, is more meaningful than this one. October 30, 2007

Nice Little Film

Based on a story by frequent Polanski collaborator, Gerard Brach and produced a year after Fearless Vampire Killers, which also featured performances by Jack MacGowran and Iain Quarrier, this is marvelous little piece, light and yet moving, filled with wonderful visuals, a nifty performance by MacGowran and a wonderful score by everyone's favorite Beatle, George. A plain synopsis doesn't do it any justice. Yes, it's about a daffy old guy who peers in on a lovely young woman living next door, but there's nothing creepy or pathetic about it. In fact, he's actually quite a bit of a dashing and romantic figure in his own detached, weird way. One of the most notable things about the film is the art direction by the Dutch band/art collective The Fool. A sort of lesser Incredible String Band that served for a while as the Beatles in-house designers, they made the most of what was most likely a thin budget by pouring every ounce of energy into dressing two amazing, Assheton Gorton designed, sets for the adjacent apartments of the old man and the young model. They are, without a doubt, two of the coolest looking places to live I have ever seen in a movie (I would give my eye-teeth to live in either one of those flats) and they form as much of a part of the main characters as the portrayal by the actors themselves. The old scientist lives in Celtic-Medieval warren, inspired by Pre-Raphaelite design, and the young model lives in a mod Sixties psychedelic/glam environment suffused with overtones of 20's/30's nostalgia. Both apartments then are filled with a yearning for the past and so, the old man becomes no more of a romanticist than the girl, despite his age. He is actually quite dashing in his cape and tuxedo when engaging in some of his later escapades, like some bandit out of a Fantomas picture. No, this movie isn't about a pathetic old guy lusting after a lithe young thing. It's about a few other things more interesting and perhaps more touching, but you'll have to find out for yourself. Oh, and if you really want to know, go ahead and read Tennyson's 'The Lady of Shallot', the opening lines of which are insribed in a lintel the scientist's apartment, and transpose the gender of the characters. December 18, 2004

period piece worth the trip

An earlier reviewer called this a period piece, and I think that's exactly the right spirit needed to enjoy the film.

For those of us too young to remember 1969, this is a rather remarkable time capsule of values and social relationships. Most striking is the sense that the film seems to have been made by young people with really no idea of how older people live their lives. That wouldn't be a great problem, except that the film itself takes the generation gap as its central feature: how an older man living a boring, empty, unfulfilling life glimpses (but cannot participate in) the colorful, uninhibited, sensual lives of younger people.

On the other hand, while the film is clearly enamored with the hip glamor of youth and beauty, it also suggests that young people bridge the gender gap principally to have sex with each other. Otherwise, they don't have much to say. Strange! I remember getting that same sense from The Graduate (not to compare the two).

Anyway, I think the dvd is recommendable. Good picture, good music (of course), very good extras, and an interesting snapshot of a time and place.

- November 12, 2003

A Mod,Mod,Mod Movie!!

This mod,mod,mod 1968 movie has superb musical scores by the Beatles George Harrison.Also,Jef Films Inc. should aggressively pursue the never been video release of Pat Boone's many great movie musicals made during the 50's and 60's that might prove to be very profitable.I mean Elvis as great as he was should'nt get all the glory!! September 18, 2003

ABSOLUTELY DREADFUL !!! - wait for the CD music album

I'm not really a George Harrison fan but I've always loved the amazing Wonderwall LP music, VERY Indan with disconcerting Western touches. I wondered what the movie must have been like. Well, the movie is VERY bad. It is boring!!. The lead character, an Einstein type peeks through a peephole at a 60's babe and gets unhinged as the sitars whine and the tablas thump. But not, alas for me. It is neither sexy or interesting or anything, though I must admit that Jack MacGowran (the scientist) followed the stupid script perfectly as did IaIn Quarrier, the loutish lover. Skip all this nonsense and get the exquisite Wonderwall album on CD when market conditions permit its eventual release for maximum profit, or tape someone's vinyl LP until then. Wonderful music! August 25, 2002

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