I loved Alien the first day I watched it when it came out on the French screens so many years ago.
A week later I had to go back to the theater, I had to see it again. The first time was too jarring, I felt like I didn't know what happened, that this was just too perfect. Second viewing confirmed my first impression: Alien is a masterpiece.
I read a few of the user reviews here before going to watch Memory: the Origins of Alien. One thing that I really disapprove is the unfair accusations in users reviews of the second half of the movie being a feminist rant. This is simply not true. I can only recall about 3 instances of women making feminist statements. That's hardly enough to qualify a large portion of the film as feminist rant.
The essence of this movie is really what the title says: a description of the genesis of Alien. It offers numerous insights in the creative process which gave birth to this classic. One thing which most people do not know is how the plot was started and contains numerous creative ideas by one writer, Dan O'Bannon. It's was good to see the emphasis put on O'Bannon's essential contribution to Alien. We most often attribute the greatness of Alien to the amazing creature and decors created by H.R Giger and to the great direction by Scott Ridley. And yes, Giger created visuals literally out of this world, Ridley put it all together, adding his own touch here and there. But we might not have known Giger's wonderful works without O'Bannon's drive to create this movie. I felt like he was getting some well deserved recognition. And then, as others have observed, it's true that there were many other artists who contributed to this achievement. But this documentary would have to be 3 hours to give everybody his/her due.
Anyway, we get to see how many transformations Alien had to go through, many pitfalls it almost fell into but didn't (such as the original title "Star Beast"), to become as good as it gets. Watching this documentary will give you an insight into the slow, difficult process of creating a great movie. One thing that stands out in my mind is the attention given to the shooting of the critical scene of the Alien birth. This is just wonderful as you get to see how complicated this particular scene was to make, how many trials and errors they had to go through to get it right.
On the down side, I found the interviews scheme a bit choppy. It jumps too often from one person to another trying to get together the evidence of a logical evolution. I think it could have achieve that better by letting people talk a bit longer. Aside from that, I had a wonderful time watching this documentary and highly recommend it if you are a fan of Alien.
I read a few of the user reviews here before going to watch Memory: the Origins of Alien. One thing that I really disapprove is the unfair accusations in users reviews of the second half of the movie being a feminist rant. This is simply not true. I can only recall about 3 instances of women making feminist statements. That's hardly enough to qualify a large portion of the film as feminist rant.
The essence of this movie is really what the title says: a description of the genesis of Alien. It offers numerous insights in the creative process which gave birth to this classic. One thing which most people do not know is how the plot was started and contains numerous creative ideas by one writer, Dan O'Bannon. It's was good to see the emphasis put on O'Bannon's essential contribution to Alien. We most often attribute the greatness of Alien to the amazing creature and decors created by H.R Giger and to the great direction by Scott Ridley. And yes, Giger created visuals literally out of this world, Ridley put it all together, adding his own touch here and there. But we might not have known Giger's wonderful works without O'Bannon's drive to create this movie. I felt like he was getting some well deserved recognition. And then, as others have observed, it's true that there were many other artists who contributed to this achievement. But this documentary would have to be 3 hours to give everybody his/her due.
Anyway, we get to see how many transformations Alien had to go through, many pitfalls it almost fell into but didn't (such as the original title "Star Beast"), to become as good as it gets. Watching this documentary will give you an insight into the slow, difficult process of creating a great movie. One thing that stands out in my mind is the attention given to the shooting of the critical scene of the Alien birth. This is just wonderful as you get to see how complicated this particular scene was to make, how many trials and errors they had to go through to get it right.
On the down side, I found the interviews scheme a bit choppy. It jumps too often from one person to another trying to get together the evidence of a logical evolution. I think it could have achieve that better by letting people talk a bit longer. Aside from that, I had a wonderful time watching this documentary and highly recommend it if you are a fan of Alien.