Terry Gilliam on crack! Rupert Bottenberg MONTREAL MIRROR
A risk-free acid trip for the
price of a cinema ticket.
JOURNEY INTO BLISS is either something
you'll admire or absolutely despise. Hell, it took me a few days just
to get over the shock of watching it.
Boy, is this movie ever strange!
If you can watch it, see it! And prepare to see a movie you would never
have been able to imagine!
JOURNEY
INTO BLISS is an ingeniously handcrafted labour of madness, the likes
of which hit the screen about as often as Hailey's comet can be seen
from earth.
With its carnival-esque atmosphere,
everything-including-the-kitchen-sink production design and emphasis
on bodily effusions, it suggests a cross between Alejandro Jodorowsky
and a Troma flick with touches of early Terry Gilliam.
This is a truly cosmic viewing
experience. I was completely mesmerized by what unfolded on the silver
screen.
Like a bizarre car wreck between Ken
Russell, Peter Jackson, Terry Gillam, Marc Caro and Jean Pierre Jeunet,
JOURNEY INTO BLISS is an almoust indescribable nightmare dreamscape
of epic originality and energy. It's an experience like no other. Love
it or hate it, there's nothing else like it.
Wenzel Storch has definitely made a
name for himself as one of the most outrageous directors, not only in
Germany but also in the world. If you want a good, trippy flick I don't
think you can do much better than this.
A dislocated tale in a ray of psychedelic
colours. Difficult to be more freaked-out than this...
Part Gilliam`s folktales, part Greenaway`s
sinister twistiness, Storch cuts at our filmic sensibilities and makes
us love it.
The most innovative German movie in
ages: Wenzel Storch's follow-up to his cult classic SUMMER OF LOVE (1992)
is an insane trip to dada-land that combines German fairytales and 'South
Park' with generous hints of (in alphabetical order) Borowzcyk, Fellini,
Fulci, Gilliam, Jackson, Jodorowsky and Svankmajer. Must be seen to
be believed.
Wenzel Storch's obsessive, scatological
German nightmare fantasy, beyond Delicatessen, Terry Gilliam, and even
the brothers Grimm. Northampton, so safe and PC, needs more off-the-charts
movies like JOURNEY INTO BLISS.
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