Pink Floyd: The Wall
The Plot:
Loosely based on the life story of Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd’s original front man (who was kicked out of the band for his bizarre and disturbing behavior only to go insane shortly thereafter), PINK FLOYD: THE WALL stars Bob Geldof as Pink, a mentally damaged man who has gone from a hopeful child artist to a burned-out rock star drifting away from reality. As Pink festers in his hotel room, elements of his abusive childhood come back to haunt him until he begins to descend into absolute madness. Director Alan Parker's intense and fully realized film interpretation of the English band's classic album THE WALL melds whimsical fantasy with dark Shakespearean drama. The film makes innovative use of sets, costumes, and special effects to create a unique surrealistic strangeness worthy of Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali’s UN CHIEN ANDALOU. Both disturbing and bedazzling, PINK FLOYD: THE WALL is a must-see film for any music lover. (From Yahoo Movies)
My Thoughts: (Reviewed by O. Anderson)
Wow... where to begin with this. "The Wall" is, obviously, loosely based around the album "The Wall", containing pretty much all of the songs from the album, and then some. In this sense, though, it's not so much the music that is good, but the actual movie. The film is about a guy named Pink, who is pretty much a psychopath. The guy just chills in a hotel room for pretty much the whole movie, watching television, and drinking, and smoking, and cutting himself. Frequently throughout the film, we witness flashbacks of his youth, for example, his father's death in war ("When the Tigers Broke Free", which isn't actually on the album, but appeared a few years later on "The Final Cut"), his first day of school (during which he is caught writing the lyrics to "Money" in a small black book during class), and getting real sick, etc. So we slowly watch his digression from a nice little kid to a burned-out drug addict, all the while building a "wall" of emotions and feelings around himself.
Man, this movie could not have been any weirder, I swear. I mean, I was expecting weird, considering Pink Floyd is one of the weirdest bands out there, but this was ridiculous. Some of the characters, a lot of which were animated, were so strange, I just wanted to stop the movie and ask myself, "What the hell?!". As for the human characters, we had Pink's mother, and his wife, both of which were extremely derragned. Some of the scenes, too, were just kind of like, "uh?", like giant orgies, and Pink going nuts and destroying everything in his hotel room. Granted, I'm a weird person, and I had expected to enjoy this movie, because I enjoy weird movies, and I really like Pink Floyd's music. However, I can't say I enjoyed it all too much, for the simple reason that it was just too weird. First of all, I had a really hard time understanding the plot, and the progression of Pink's life. The random flashbacks really threw me off, and if it had all been in some kind of order, I probably would have followed more closely. Also, there is very little dialogue aside from the lyrics of the songs. Secondly, the weirdness was just way over the top... the animated characters... just way too weird. I couldn't follow their importance at all... it was very confusing.But anyways, I suppose that if you're a Pink Floyd fan, this is a must. Although I found it weird, others may not, and possibly enjoy it.
Starring:
Pink Floyd, Bob Geldof, James Laurenson, Eleanor David, Bob Hoskins
Directed by: Alan Parker
Rated R