I liked this film very much, but the connection with Gabriel García Márquez is so thin that I would not credit "Cien años de soledad" as source. It could have inspired Terayama in the same way someone writes a poem after hearing an inspiring symphony. Sometimes the film looks and sounds more Fellini-Rota to me than Colombia, but the really fascinating images and sounds are those culturally linked to Japan. I am not a specialist in cultures, I only respond emotionally to this product, which has a dark tone and complex idiosyncratic background that is rarely present in the world of light and color of García Márquez. Although Gabo's works can be dark and complex, this motion picture has the scent of an ancient world and culture. A bit rambling sometimes, but a very good audiovisual experience.
3 Reviews
It's the freakiest show.
Jeremy_Urquhart6 April 2024
I have watched many films lately where I don't know how to describe them very well. While I've loved seeing all these things that are unlike much else I've seen, I think I might've reached my limit. I've been overwhelmed by movies - be they good, bad, or somewhere in between - that have been redefining what movies can be/do, in my mind. Over the next week, I would like to watch some nice, normal, comforting films, and maybe leave the energy needed for difficult things to other difficult things in life that don't involve watching films.
I didn't like the way Farewell to the Ark made me feel, but I did appreciate the fact it was able to make me feel it. There's just this really eerie, sickening, queasy, almost beautiful feel to it. I can't call it dreamlike, nightmarish, or like a fever dream. It's a bit of all those things mixed together to become something else.
What's it about? I don't know! Everyone is obsessed with clocks, there's an inappropriate relationship, a man is haunted by someone he seemingly killed and then he also goes insane, and there are also other ghosts that seem to be hovering around the place. Maybe in flashbacks, maybe in dreams (not the Roy Orbison kind).
I don't know if anyone out there would enjoy this, but I think a lot of other people would appreciate it if they were after something unique. It made me feel sad in a way I've never felt sad before, so I'm not even sure if sad is the right word. This is the kind of movie you'd see if, after entering the obelisk at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey, you ended up in a realm where they still had cinemas.
What a film, and what the hell.
I didn't like the way Farewell to the Ark made me feel, but I did appreciate the fact it was able to make me feel it. There's just this really eerie, sickening, queasy, almost beautiful feel to it. I can't call it dreamlike, nightmarish, or like a fever dream. It's a bit of all those things mixed together to become something else.
What's it about? I don't know! Everyone is obsessed with clocks, there's an inappropriate relationship, a man is haunted by someone he seemingly killed and then he also goes insane, and there are also other ghosts that seem to be hovering around the place. Maybe in flashbacks, maybe in dreams (not the Roy Orbison kind).
I don't know if anyone out there would enjoy this, but I think a lot of other people would appreciate it if they were after something unique. It made me feel sad in a way I've never felt sad before, so I'm not even sure if sad is the right word. This is the kind of movie you'd see if, after entering the obelisk at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey, you ended up in a realm where they still had cinemas.
What a film, and what the hell.
Farewell to the Ark (1984)
mevmijaumau18 November 2015
Farewell to the Ark is the final film directed by the legendary Japanese counter-culture artist Shuji Terayama, who died of illness after finishing it, meaning that the film was released posthumously, the following year. The movie is loosely based on Gabriel Garcia Marquez' novel 100 Years of Solitude (on which Terayama already based one of his most obscure films, which shares the title of the book). It's not a full-blooded adaptation though, more of a partial one, with many motifs and themes coming straight from Terayama's psyche.
Terayama's personal symbolism is present throughout the film (as it is in his other works), most prominently clocks that symbolize rural traditions and superstitions (among other things, I suppose). The film follows a woman in love with her cousin. Their attempts at making love are thwarted by her chastity belt installed by her father. Meanwhile, the other villagers gradually leave behind their old ways and head for the city instead. Over the two-hour runtime, Terayama explores superstition, guilt, regret, tradition, sexuality, parting with old ways and reminiscing of lost time. This is a very puzzling film, open to many interpretations and prone to re-watches. The many intertwining sub-plots and sub-themes are here both to enrich it and to make it inaccessible. Unfortunately, there's so much going on that it suffocates the story and makes the viewing experience confusing. However, it does have that old Terayama-ish charm.
The soundtrack is not as memorable as in other Terayama films, but the visual design is still true to his style. The green filters, characters wearing bright red clothing, caricatural villagers, black and white inserts, unusual natural locations and peculiar color work in general all make the film worth watching if you're interested in cinematography.
Terayama's personal symbolism is present throughout the film (as it is in his other works), most prominently clocks that symbolize rural traditions and superstitions (among other things, I suppose). The film follows a woman in love with her cousin. Their attempts at making love are thwarted by her chastity belt installed by her father. Meanwhile, the other villagers gradually leave behind their old ways and head for the city instead. Over the two-hour runtime, Terayama explores superstition, guilt, regret, tradition, sexuality, parting with old ways and reminiscing of lost time. This is a very puzzling film, open to many interpretations and prone to re-watches. The many intertwining sub-plots and sub-themes are here both to enrich it and to make it inaccessible. Unfortunately, there's so much going on that it suffocates the story and makes the viewing experience confusing. However, it does have that old Terayama-ish charm.
The soundtrack is not as memorable as in other Terayama films, but the visual design is still true to his style. The green filters, characters wearing bright red clothing, caricatural villagers, black and white inserts, unusual natural locations and peculiar color work in general all make the film worth watching if you're interested in cinematography.
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