Review of THX 1138 (1971) by Joseph M — 23 Feb 2010

In a strange, possibly futuristic civilization full of bald grumps in white suits and lovely minimalist architecture, you can get killed for not taking your "supressants". There is nothing to do about the obtrusive, uncomfortable feelings of disatisfaction, disconnectedness, and depression that most people feel (especially the naughty ones who skimp on their pill taking), except talk to one of the lamely recorded psychologist Jesuses set up on streetcorners. Sex is outlawed and without it, human connection has been thrown out the window. Creepy sounds that have no reason to exist do. In an empty room, there is the sound of a wet lung being wiped across loose saran wrap, or a baby cooing from inside an old tree. Human voices are too muddled and occasionally disembodied. The whole film is very disembodied, on purpose. This world is SUPPOSED to be disembodied, unhealthily automated and forgotten. I get that.

But I am awfully confused...

The movie seems halfway unconscious and on the brink of losing me completely. I kept asking, "What the hell is going on?" and occasionally coming up for air. I was surprised to be so bored. There's too much left unsaid. I wish I could have known how the huge, plastic, *indoor* world got the way it was, how some things happened, whataver. I wish we got to see more of the AWESOME sidestories (understories, really, because they only pop up for about five seconds), like the crazy feral human from "the outside', and a horde of monkeywolves in the city limits. Not knowing made things feel more superficial than they should have, and the lack of decisive actions and passionate feeling weakened the experience further.

There is something grounding about Robert Duvalls eyes, so dark, even, and right. But we can't love him. You are not involved with the characters in their stagnant world (except for the giant, charming hologram). It is disengaging, a struggle to watch and be interested.

This version felt like it might be very different from the original, and based on the discrepancy in ratings for the two I bet it was a worse version. There was some artsy enhancement that was obviously modern CGI, and parts that would have had bad effects were oddly choppy and horrendously incomplete, like the people in charge were like "SCREW this scene, I'm awfully tired after perfecting pretty much everything else, so let's only halfway redo this. How about we just splice it into a twitchy LSD-shart fest?".

But the more I think about this movie, the more I appreciate it, and Lucas's driven vision. THX-1138 is chock full of cool ideas. It is an impeccably well made film with undeniable purpose and incredible cinematography with stunning, Kubrick-y visuals-- Angles, lines, it is mathematically incredible. Its the Guggenheim.

Not to mention the ending is AWESOME!

Definitely ONLY for fans of the science fiction and futuristic art genres, I promise you. Maybe see the original first, because this version did not seem right.