The overarching concept for me during this viewing was that of optical illusions. There are several moments in the film where my eyes literally lost focus for a moment or blended into the surroundings of the Lone Man, which distorted the actual image of him in my mind. An example is when he walks into an elevator, the rich blues and reds causing him to disappear and leave behind an aura as the doors close. The material of his suit itself is enough to make it a real effort to digest the intermittent clashing and submerging into the streets, signs, buildings and lighting. The odd shapes of the scenery and staircases, specifically, force you into the life of paintings similar to the ones the Lone Man visits at the museum in Spain. The film's musical interludes as the backdrop of the Lone Man's walking/traveling also take the viewer out of the immediate space of the film, almost putting the conscious mind to sleep for a moment, letting the subconscious meditate on the odd stimulations the brain is receiving. Certain films I've seen since my first viewing of this one came to my mind during which I had similar reactions. The presence of repetition and longer than expected scenes of music married to movement in Bela Tarr's The Turin Horse, and, more of a visual statement, Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, both offer a portal and give permission to peer through an infinitely widened camera lens that captures not just individual subjects of a film's story, but the absorption of a single consciousness past the "arbitrary reality" into the intersecting mental resting place that everyone visits, at least once in their lives. It is in these places where the eyes wander off the screen and the mind escapes for a little while, un-chaperoned and unseeing, until the next scene break calls you back and you wonder what you were just given by this film as an old man walks the space of ten yards from his home to the horse barn. I wonder if this experience isn't equivalent to chanting mantras or meditating on a koan. However one describes it, it is beautiful.
At some point in life, hopefully sooner rather than later, a person comes to a crossroads and either decides he is going to continue walking down the well trodden path that "everyone else" is walking or suddenly veer to the left into dark, uncharted territory. This first path is easier, the lines and rules which are generally excepted as not just guideposts of truth but eventually truth, in and of itself, are frequent and heavily supported. The Lone Man has chosen the latter, the road less traveled. This choice offers revelations that are both scary and exhilarating, the experiences and guideposts are taken into the self, consumed, as the Lone Man literally does in the film, and he continues on to the next one. Each discovery is guided by a hunger that comes into existence without explanation. But it is very strong, and, once the Lone Man has awoken to its presence, unavoidable and irrevocable. The food that this presence devours is found in art, in physical pleasure, in music, etc. but they are not indulged much here, as the Lone Man has moved past this point with the knowledge that these things do not themselves hold any answers, even though he may not even be searching for one.
My understanding of Alfred Camus' concept of the "absurd" is the awakening of the mind to the conflict between this kind of hunger and the inevitability of dying without it having ever been satisfied. But, as in Camus' essay "The Myth of Sisyphus," this film embodies a certain truth that is stumbled upon at some point in the journey and that is the essential necessity of movement, whether it be pushing the same rock up the same hill again and again for all eternity or walking from one place to another to another eating crumbs for the rest of one's life. The only satisfaction, the only answer, is simply to continue. Or if you're Ayn Rand, productivity as movement--"man is an end in himself."
Now I zoom way out and look at the overall context and story as it relates to the ending. A young man develops his mind and passion and becomes a conscious person. It is inevitable, then, to look around at society and start comparing yourself to it. Is this woman who talks about Hitchcock and old movies (Tilda Swinton) just a superficial self-obsessed student borrowing from others and those before in order to adorn herself and convince people that she is original and a free-thinker? Perhaps the only one she is fooling is herself? Perhaps he is thinking about the fact that he can absorb himself into a piece of art but also retain himself and keep an objective distance from it while people like the "bohemians" seem to find their solace in becoming the art they admire, losing the responsibility of themselves? Inevitably, his vision becomes sharp enough to become aware and curious about the broader system in which he is having these meditations. Who is in control? Why doesn't anyone care? I care. I'm going to do something about it...
I could go on and on from here I guess but I'll let you take it from here. Peter Joseph's Zeitgeist, Wall Street, Charles Ferguson's Inside Job, blah, blah, blah...what time does X Factor come on tonight?
http://funkyforestfirstcontact.wordpress.com/
At some point in life, hopefully sooner rather than later, a person comes to a crossroads and either decides he is going to continue walking down the well trodden path that "everyone else" is walking or suddenly veer to the left into dark, uncharted territory. This first path is easier, the lines and rules which are generally excepted as not just guideposts of truth but eventually truth, in and of itself, are frequent and heavily supported. The Lone Man has chosen the latter, the road less traveled. This choice offers revelations that are both scary and exhilarating, the experiences and guideposts are taken into the self, consumed, as the Lone Man literally does in the film, and he continues on to the next one. Each discovery is guided by a hunger that comes into existence without explanation. But it is very strong, and, once the Lone Man has awoken to its presence, unavoidable and irrevocable. The food that this presence devours is found in art, in physical pleasure, in music, etc. but they are not indulged much here, as the Lone Man has moved past this point with the knowledge that these things do not themselves hold any answers, even though he may not even be searching for one.
My understanding of Alfred Camus' concept of the "absurd" is the awakening of the mind to the conflict between this kind of hunger and the inevitability of dying without it having ever been satisfied. But, as in Camus' essay "The Myth of Sisyphus," this film embodies a certain truth that is stumbled upon at some point in the journey and that is the essential necessity of movement, whether it be pushing the same rock up the same hill again and again for all eternity or walking from one place to another to another eating crumbs for the rest of one's life. The only satisfaction, the only answer, is simply to continue. Or if you're Ayn Rand, productivity as movement--"man is an end in himself."
Now I zoom way out and look at the overall context and story as it relates to the ending. A young man develops his mind and passion and becomes a conscious person. It is inevitable, then, to look around at society and start comparing yourself to it. Is this woman who talks about Hitchcock and old movies (Tilda Swinton) just a superficial self-obsessed student borrowing from others and those before in order to adorn herself and convince people that she is original and a free-thinker? Perhaps the only one she is fooling is herself? Perhaps he is thinking about the fact that he can absorb himself into a piece of art but also retain himself and keep an objective distance from it while people like the "bohemians" seem to find their solace in becoming the art they admire, losing the responsibility of themselves? Inevitably, his vision becomes sharp enough to become aware and curious about the broader system in which he is having these meditations. Who is in control? Why doesn't anyone care? I care. I'm going to do something about it...
I could go on and on from here I guess but I'll let you take it from here. Peter Joseph's Zeitgeist, Wall Street, Charles Ferguson's Inside Job, blah, blah, blah...what time does X Factor come on tonight?
http://funkyforestfirstcontact.wordpress.com/