I Watch 'Em So You Don't Have To

SALVADOR DALI ON AN ACID TRIP






Un Chien Andalou aka An Andelusian Dog (1929) France

Who says everybody was tame and boring back in the roaring 20's? There was Salvador Dali for one - a real party animal. I really don't know what he was like, but if he could make something like this, he was one cool dude. Oh yeah, and Luis Bunuel too.





If you've got about 15 minutes to partake in something - surreal ('cause that's how long this film runs) then put away your preconceptions about what confusing and psychedelic is and have a gander at this piece of art. And it IS art, partly because it was made with Salvador Dali and partly because it explores what you can do with images (no sound of course) that do not have to tell a story or make sense. Oh, and how to make people queasy too. He even appears in the film - a little bit of ego showing there but hey, he made a better 15 minute piece of cinema than a thousand bad B movies.

For 15 minutes, there is no plot, no chronology, just imagery galore that bounces from one thing to another. As for title cards, there is none for the dialogue (there really isn't any dialogue anyway), just a card here and there to say things like 'once upon a time' or 'eight years later' although none of THAT makes any sense either. Because this is not a story, this is art. Some might make your stomach a little fluttery, but hey, if he could have made more, I'd watch it.

You've got eye slicing, men riding bicycles in nun habits, a peek at Salvador himself, jumps from here to there without explanation, and a sudden ending with a picture of a death's-head hawkmoth (yes, they do exist). What more could you ask for in 15 minutes?

'The Persistence Of Memory'