Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)
Directed by Panos Cosmatos
In 1983, a young mute woman with psychic abilities is held captive within the Arboria Institute, a secluded futuristic facility overseen by a sinister doctor with an unraveling mind and a growing obsession with her.
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What critics say influenced Beyond the Black Rainbow
Clearly influenced by elements of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Vancouver director Panos Cosmatos’s 1983-set debut feature is almost free of plot, giving him ample time to do whatever he wants.
Like "2001: A Space Odyssey" crossed with " Vanilla Sky ," "Poltergeist," " Halloween ," and " Inland Empire ," it's the kind of special, remarkably rare motion picture that should keep on giving through the ensuing decades, so overflowing with lofty ideas, bizarre head trips, and out-there flights of nightmarish fancy that one could see it fifty times and probably get something new out of it in each sitting.
Director Panos Cosmatos delivers a debut feature that's light on narrative but overflowing in style, taking the trancelike pull of 2001: A Space Odyssey's abstract "stargate" sequence and drawing it out across almost two lysergic, ambiguity-filled hours.
The sets, which are retro yet futuristic, have been designed by someone who has closely studied THX-1138 and 2001: A Space Odyssey and came away thinking the meaning of those movies rested in their furniture and props.
You know, be able to happily declare that this bit here is reminiscent of Michael Mann's The Keep (a conscious influence Cosmatos acknowledges), that bit there of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (which he does not).
You know, be able to happily declare that this bit here is reminiscent of Michael Mann's The Keep (a conscious influence Cosmatos acknowledges), that bit there of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (which he does not).
Instead, Cosmatos (son of the late George P. Cosmatos, who directed Tombstone and Cobra) goes for a weirdo, groovy, far-out vibe.
Director Panos Cosmatos (son of Rambo: First Blood Part II and Tombstone helmer George P. Cosmatos) holds little back for his debut, which opens with an Alien-ish “1983” title card before segueing into a VHS promotional video in which a creepy Dr. Mercurio Arboria (Scott Hylands) explains his plans to revolutionize humanity by creating a recipe – of “benign pharmacology, sensory therapy and energy sculpting” – for pure happiness.
Instead, Cosmatos (son of the late George P. Cosmatos, who directed Tombstone and Cobra) goes for a weirdo, groovy, far-out vibe.
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Falling somewhere within the cinematic matrix that includes, on one end, schlocky pseudo-intellectual headtrips like Zardoz and Phase IV, and, on the other end, legitimately psychedelic sci-fi experiments like Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris and Ken Russell’s Altered States, Panos Cosmatos’ Beyond the Black Rainbow is a largely opaque, incredibly slow-moving, and completely blissed out experimental mystery that left me in a calmed state of discomfited wonder.
Falling somewhere within the cinematic matrix that includes, on one end, schlocky pseudo-intellectual headtrips like Zardoz and Phase IV, and, on the other end, legitimately psychedelic sci-fi experiments like Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris and Ken Russell’s Altered States, Panos Cosmatos’ Beyond the Black Rainbow is a largely opaque, incredibly slow-moving, and completely blissed out experimental mystery that left me in a calmed state of discomfited wonder.
Director Panos Cosmatos (son of Rambo: First Blood Part II and Tombstone helmer George P. Cosmatos) holds little back for his debut, which opens with an Alien-ish “1983” title card before segueing into a VHS promotional video in which a creepy Dr. Mercurio Arboria (Scott Hylands) explains his plans to revolutionize humanity by creating a recipe – of “benign pharmacology, sensory therapy and energy sculpting” – for pure happiness.
Like "2001: A Space Odyssey" crossed with " Vanilla Sky ," "Poltergeist," " Halloween ," and " Inland Empire ," it's the kind of special, remarkably rare motion picture that should keep on giving through the ensuing decades, so overflowing with lofty ideas, bizarre head trips, and out-there flights of nightmarish fancy that one could see it fifty times and probably get something new out of it in each sitting.
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Like "2001: A Space Odyssey" crossed with " Vanilla Sky ," "Poltergeist," " Halloween ," and " Inland Empire ," it's the kind of special, remarkably rare motion picture that should keep on giving through the ensuing decades, so overflowing with lofty ideas, bizarre head trips, and out-there flights of nightmarish fancy that one could see it fifty times and probably get something new out of it in each sitting.
Like "2001: A Space Odyssey" crossed with " Vanilla Sky ," "Poltergeist," " Halloween ," and " Inland Empire ," it's the kind of special, remarkably rare motion picture that should keep on giving through the ensuing decades, so overflowing with lofty ideas, bizarre head trips, and out-there flights of nightmarish fancy that one could see it fifty times and probably get something new out of it in each sitting.