Resurrection

I will admit that it’s pretentious, but it’s pretentious in a way that most other great works of abstract art are. I couldn’t care less about the “plot” which ties each piece of this anthology together. I don’t want to really understand what a Deliriant is, I don’t think the movie does either. It works best as a series of extended metaphors, symbols, proverbs, and musings on sense, enlightenment, suffering, etc. etc. etc. Where Resurrection transcends into all-time great territory is at its treatment of film and art in general as living dreams and a means to achieve enlightenment and immortality. I’d go so far as to say it plots the intersection between them more expertly than any Lynch movie, and wholly embarrasses other modern attempts like Babylon (what was that movie?). Many, many films have tried to articulate what it is about film in particular that is so transporting, but this is the first time I’ve felt truly convinced by an attempt. I think using Buddhism (and reincarnation) as a framework is a very clever way to wrap it up in a way that doesn’t feel overly cumbersome. I think Andrei Rublev achieves the same result using Orthodox Christianity. And above all that, it’s just really exciting to watch. It gets off to a slow start, but each new story is more engaging than the last. Once I stopped trying to “understand” it and let it wash over me, I wished it was 3 hours longer by the time it was over. It couldn’t achieve what it does without being pretentious. I can’t stand to hear the director talk about this movie because it makes me cringe, but that’s besides the point.