I love days when I don't have any homework. I got to go outside this afternoon and flip through my ipod on the swing in the backyard. I put on Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" and started thinking about how weirdly surreal The Graduate was. That one movie turned into a list of movies, so enjoy my train of thought:
Top Five Most Surreal Movies I've Ever Seen (and can think of off the top of my head)
1. Yellow Submarine--Showcase of Beatles songs better explained with a video. I seriously felt that LSD watching this.
2. Weird Science--two high school nerds decide to create their "dream girl" with a computer and "weird science," and she comes to life. It might not sound like it, but trust me when I say it's surreal.
If there ever was a movie that left me staring at the screen as the credits ran with my mouth hung open, it was this one. I would describe this movie in five words...what the hell was that? It starts normally and predictably, gets weird and hard to follow in the middle, and just about the point where I was ready to fall asleep, some guys on motorcycles bash through the wall of the house. Guys who look like Leather Face and Freddy Krueger come in, and suddenly the room is filled with horror movie-esque characters holding guns, pointed at the protagonists. I didn't understand. I had to have Anny explain, and she didn't even fully understand. I'm sure there's some kind of drug that produces an effect similar to watching this movie.
3. The Graduate--everyone knows this one. New college graduate doesn't know what to do with his life, looks for a sense of direction in the bed of a married 40-something year old, realizes that he made a mistake, and actually falls in love with her daughter.
There isn't a lot of talking in this movie. If there is, I just don't remember it because it's not that important. A lot of screen time is dedicated to Dustin Hoffman looking distraught while "Simon and Garfunkel" songs play. We're supposed to know what he's thinking and sympathize, which I did, but it's just like I said...surreal. It feels like one of those weird symbolic dreams that you couldn't explain to anyone if you tried to. The "Simon and Garfunkel" music definitely contributes. Have you ever heard "Scarborough Fair?"
For example: Dustin Hoffman walking into the pool in the scuba diving outfit slowly, everyone's talking to him but their voices are muffled because he's wearing a helmet, and it shows him sort of sink deeper and deeper into the water. It's stuff like that throughout the whole movie.
4. Alice in Wonderland--obviously. That Cheshire Cat...his grin...it haunts me. What else struck me...the sea of tea, that walrus that sang with the clams, the magical mushroom. Oh, the "who are you?" caterpillar! I was afraid of the curtains in my room when I was five because I thought they looked like that caterpillar. Alice in Wonderland epitomized surreality.
I have three ties for this, but I'm going to settle for the least predictable one.
5. The Princess Bride--A grandfather reads his grandson a story and we see the events of the story where a girl is about to marry a chauvinist jerk prince (or king...can't remember) but she really loves a pirate that she hasn't seen in years and doesn't know if she'll ever see again. She finds him yada yada lots of cool action and some of the most quotable lines ever and a happily ever after.
I love this movie soo much, but it's also incredibly other-world. The ROUS (rodents of unusual size), those eel things...the whole atmosphere of the movie makes this surreal.
I just thought of one more surreal movie, so I'm going to continue this tomorrow. Just to bookmark, they're Across the Universe, Juno (I have a reason for that and I really want to explain it), and The Wizard of Oz. Just to make it clear, I actually like all these movies. I should find some surreal movies that I really don't like.
Wrapping this up for tonight. Happy almost Friday!
Juliana
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