Into the Rabbit Hole? Looking for Messed Up Cinematography

September 4, 2007 8:16 AM

I'm looking for films similar to Jan Švankmajer's Alice and Faust. I watched Alice in July, and two nights ago I watched Faust under the influence of some hallucinogenics. I'm especially interested in movies similar to Faust. Some philosophical content would be awesome. What do you got?
posted by radgardener to media & arts (16 answers total)

You watched that version of Faust while on drugs, and you're still alive?

In that case, try "The Falls" by Peter Greenaway.
posted by bryanjbusch at 8:37 AM on September 4, 2007

Anything by the Brothers Quay (who did a short called the Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer) should do you nicely.
posted by macadamiaranch at 8:54 AM on September 4, 2007

The Quays 'Streets of Crocodiles' has always been my favorite. For some fast-paced eye-candy..don't forget
DEVO or Peter Gabriel vids.
posted by doctorschlock at 10:04 AM on September 4, 2007

"The Falls" might be a bit dry for your purposes.

Brothers Quay, obviously, and all the Tool videos... David Lynch, especially Eraserhead and the shorts, but it's all good. David Cronenberg was pretty great back in the day too.
posted by Reggie Digest at 10:35 AM on September 4, 2007

Oh, and Terry Gilliam. And Chris Marker.
posted by Reggie Digest at 10:36 AM on September 4, 2007

And of course there's always anime.
posted by Reggie Digest at 10:38 AM on September 4, 2007

For the x-treme experience....El Topo or Magic Mountain.
posted by doctorschlock at 10:44 AM on September 4, 2007

....Oh yeah...Coffin Joe.."At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul"!
posted by doctorschlock at 10:47 AM on September 4, 2007

Svankmajer's 'Little Otik' (Otesánek) starts out slow but once it gets going... it really gets going!
posted by RoseovSharon at 11:31 AM on September 4, 2007

...and all of the 'Spike and Mike Animation' compilation shows!
posted by doctorschlock at 11:40 AM on September 4, 2007

...Corky Quakenbush from Mad TV....
posted by doctorschlock at 11:41 AM on September 4, 2007

..Peter O'Toole in 'The Ruling Class' and Peter Sellers in
'The Magic Christian' with Ringo Starr.
posted by doctorschlock at 11:43 AM on September 4, 2007

Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain
posted by ekstasis23 at 12:44 PM on September 4, 2007

Yeah..Holy Mountain..not Magic Mountain..what was I thinking....Disney, but then again..all that early Disney stuff was pretty trippy.
posted by doctorschlock at 2:11 PM on September 4, 2007

Brothers Quay are definitely the way to go here. I believe The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes hit DVD recently, and it's wonderful.

If you haven't checked out Svankmajer's short films, there are some great collections of those available too. And if by any chance you're a Greencine subscriber, I know The Ossuary is about to become available, because I just sent it back last week. But you can't have Lunacy because it's on its way to me now. (Oddly, I am not actually on a particular Svankmajer kick right now, my rental queue just happened to spit them both out despite lots of other films being between them.)
posted by Stacey at 3:22 PM on September 4, 2007

the puppet films of jiri trinka
posted by l-chan at 8:59 PM on September 4, 2007