My Year in Disturbing Film: Week 6 - Feelin' Fine

My year in disturbing film is my weekly column where I devote a few paragraphs to the most fucked up films ever made. Each week I plan on subjecting myself to the most horrific and mentally damaging imagery my mind can handle. I can't promise you this won't be the week I wind up in the hospital...

HERE is a reminder about my rating system for these films

Movie #6, let's see what's in store for me...

Un Chien Andelou – oui oui

What is the movie about?
Nothing really. The movie is so steeped in symbolism it lacks any real conventional storyline. With a 29 minute running time Un Chien Andelou is giving me a much-needed rest from writing this week. Don’t expect a very long review.



Was the film disturbing?
Bunuel and Dali blow their proverbial loads very early in the film. The first scene, in fact, the movie opens with a man sharpening a razor and pulling back a woman’s head he then proceeds to slice her eyeball with it. This is kind of tough to watch because the slicing is very real. The unfortunate side is that the eyeball being sliced is that of a dead cow. That’s the worst of it, the rest of the film I rather enjoyed if not just for its bizarre visuals and seemingly nonstop symbolism. Of course nearly all of the symbolism in the film is supposed to represent sex, some not as subtle as others; ants coming out of a man’s hand, a man groping a woman’s naughty bits, man wipes away his mouth and it gets replaced with a woman’s underarm hair. The symbolism that doesn’t represent sex represents religion; a man drags stone tablets and priests and pianos with dead cows on them.


sex

Sadly the film, by today’s standards, would do little but bore most modern film watchers. I happen to be a huge fan of silent cinema so I completely enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone else who has an affinity for the pre-talkies. If not, don’t waste the half hour.



4 sliced eyeballs out of 5

Disturbitude: 5 – the reason it’s so high is only because if you think about when the movie came out, it really was shocking for it’s time. So I’m splitting the difference between what the filmmakers were going for and today’s standards

Next up: Irreversible - Happy Valentine's Day