Wow, what an interesting and incredibly different film. This 1971 blaxploitation film transcends any conventional narrative, style and concept, completely creating an entirely unique hallucinatory experience to anything I’ve seen before. Visually this film is spectacular, with some extremely experimental editing choices and stylistic effects that give the film an almost surrealist appearance and a very abstract feel. This is especially seen within those neon colour filter sequences that are so beautifully psychedelic and expressive, accentuating the revolt against ‘The Man’ that this film holds so dearly. The camera work is also terrific, it’s energetic and exciting with some amazing lighting and convoluted visuals to match its tone. There is an abundance of sleaze and taboo within this film which leans into the very radical notion that this film explores, it feels revolutionary and disturbing with its explicit imagery of sex and violence. The soundtrack is particularly jarring with its loud, overlapping funk and jazz melodies that blare overhead of the abstract narrative. The story is unexpectedly fragmented, with a strange, meandering protagonist who seems to be endlessly running and rebelling against the ‘man’. The dialogue is direct but still very abstract, with some characters repeating their lines over and over as if they were confused by the loud soundtrack. The message of this film is very apparent but also seemingly buried under the abyss of absurdity and sleaze, it’s to rebel against the state and stand for the community you belong to, a massively fascinating piece of the civil rights movement.
As for my opinion on this film I’m a little confused on where to go, I loved the revolutionary experimental aspects of the film and how raw and arthouse it felt but was kind of dissuaded by the extremely explicit and often disturbing sexual content within it; saying this, I think that provocative nature of the film is what makes it feel so alive and unique and is something that doesn’t really diminish the overall power of the film.
Wow, what an interesting and incredibly different film. This 1971 blaxploitation film transcends any conventional narrative, style and concept, completely creating an entirely unique hallucinatory experience to anything I’ve seen before. Visually this film is spectacular, with some extremely experimental editing choices and stylistic effects that give the film an almost surrealist appearance and a very abstract feel. This is especially seen within those neon colour filter sequences that are so beautifully psychedelic and expressive, accentuating the revolt against ‘The Man’ that this film holds so dearly. The camera work is also terrific, it’s energetic and exciting with some amazing lighting and convoluted visuals to match its tone. There is an abundance of sleaze and taboo within this film which leans into the very radical notion that this film explores, it feels revolutionary and disturbing with its explicit imagery of sex and violence. The soundtrack is particularly jarring with its loud, overlapping funk and jazz melodies that blare overhead of the abstract narrative. The story is unexpectedly fragmented, with a strange, meandering protagonist who seems to be endlessly running and rebelling against the ‘man’. The dialogue is direct but still very abstract, with some characters repeating their lines over and over as if they were confused by the loud soundtrack. The message of this film is very apparent but also seemingly buried under the abyss of absurdity and sleaze, it’s to rebel against the state and stand for the community you belong to, a massively fascinating piece of the civil rights movement.
As for my opinion on this film I’m a little confused on where to go, I loved the revolutionary experimental aspects of the film and how raw and arthouse it felt but was kind of dissuaded by the extremely explicit and often disturbing sexual content within it; saying this, I think that provocative nature of the film is what makes it feel so alive and unique and is something that doesn’t really diminish the overall power of the film.
