The film I watched was just truly odd. Just when I thought I had the plot fully understood I get an entire shift in various twists. A group of punk teenagers, one of those punks becoming a full fledged repo man, and then aliens and flying cars all together. I can say that I understand what is going on, but at the same time I have difficulty trying to comprehend how the movie could easily shift from one thing to another. What baffles me even more is how it did so smoothly.

The film starts off with a weird drugged up scientist with a peculiar car. As he is stopped by a police man to check his trunk, the policeman gets vaporized by the contents inside leaving me intrigued to how the film will go on its way. The film transitions to the main character who is a degenerate loser who gets fired from his job for insubordination as he is discontented with the boring lifestyle. He spends his time doing mosh pits with punks and is seen as a loser as his friends just use him and the girls he hooks up with find him boring. This is a good transition to being approached by Bud an auto possessor, as he initially grows disdain for such work just to eventually sign up to it full time. He develops a desire to make something of himself by being a great repo man even though his greenness to the job gets him into a lot of trouble to which he is saved by his mentors. He develops a culture with them and gains confidence to his identity as he manages to get a girlfriend and his buddies help him out like beating up guys who allegedly beat him up as he is a fellow repo man that carries their identity. The film goes into a cool transition as the government is in search of the car of the mad scientist and just so happens his girlfriend and repo men are looking for it. His girlfriend is looking for it as it drives more proof to aliens existing and that the repo men know it would cost 25000 dollars if they manage to repossess it. The film eventually goes into a free for all in searching for the car and at the end the car turns into a green magical flying car that only the main character and a random hobo-like mechanic can operate.

The movie dares to do a lot of unconventional things that a normal person would read on paper and think this could not work for sure; but actually does. I guess one thing that the film can be praised for is its ability to be daring in various ways. Aside from the insane plot line it manages to display amazing effects for an 80’s film and provide scenes that can make such a film an iconic classic.

Although I researched that the movie did not reach its goal in the box office to the budget amassed, I have to say I appreciate the film as it introduced to me the world of glam rock. I admittedly had a metal phase in my life, and like any other metal fan I would often look down own glam as it sounds and looks like a watered-down pop version of rock. With examples like Def Leppard’s Pour some sugar on me, Warrant’s Cherry Pie, and Twisted Sister’s I wanna rock, I could see why many would be upset how rock has transitioned from something heavy to being a bad variation of sound evolution. The movie however, showed me a new world that gives glam rock a better picture. Introducing the culture paved by the likes of Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Gary Glitter, and David Bowie, the British would show the poppy rawness of glam with the American showing a rougher and heavier type of rock that has set me for life in my deeper appreciation to the various genres of music.

The film for me did a great job for immersing the viewer into glam rock music. It made an emphasis on the genre not just being music but a culture as well. At the time, sexuality was toyed around as a way of liberating oneself from the standards of society. Being androgynous, bisexual, or homosexual, was relatively an “in” thing as it was a form of breaking barrier norms on self expression. Additionally, the thrill of the music was living life on the high until you come crashing down as it is emulated in the characters like Slade and Curt Wild. It destroyed the image I had of glam just being glitter, over the top outfits, overly hair sprayed blonde hair, and a cheap imitation of metal. As a viewer myself I felt the inclination of wanting to pursue the genre as I really felt hooked not just to the sound but the energy it gives. I felt that if the movie focused on that, it maybe could have reached a wider audience.

the fault I could guess in this movie would be trying to be two things at the same time. On one hand you got the immersion of true glam rock culture, and the other being some sort of documentary or biopic of a fictional rock star. I understand that the latter was used as a medium to give the audience a point of view of a fan in that era and how the music of artists or bands changed their lives into releasing a side of them that has been silenced since. I just think that a documentary or biopic like film would not be ideal especially for a fictional character. I understand it was not a documentary or a biopic, but I strongly felt the case as it became dragging a series of times as it tried to bounce back from one thing being an introduction to glam rock culture and focusing on Brian Slade being the imagination of what a rock star is supposed to be. Personally, the film got me hooked enough to go through such cons but I can’t say the attention of a broader type of audience could say the same.

My own private Idaho is a sad film in its entirety. It is not a tearjerker which in my opinion cheapens what makes a reality truly depressing. This movie resonates with the saying that “no man is an island” by juxtaposing to us a character who has been abandoned by the person we believed would never abandon him.

The film starts out with a myriad of saddening realities which for me just felt like an everyday necessity of his life. Being a bum, a gigolo, a drifter, and a narcoleptic who longs for his mother. His lifestyle is tough, but it felt like the protagonist was already used to it and made us believe he thinks this is how everyday life is supposed to be. His narcolepsy, though shows his necessary dependence towards others, looks like something that just happens all the time as his friends know the typical protocol on what to do when it happens. What is interesting about his narcolepsy is that it paved its way to introducing to us Scott. A man who lives a very contrasting life compared to his, but shows sensitivity and openness towards each other which warms the hearts of each audience member as we interestingly find out how the story unravels around them.

They agree to an adventure for looking for the protagonist’s mother. Enjoyed each other’s company throughout the trip. Eventually, it is unraveled clearly to us that the protagonist is in love with Scott. Despite the care that Scott has for him, he turns him down as he states that he only sleeps with men who pay him. We empathize in this scene as a hard blow but we still take light into thinking that Scott portrays affection towards him as a true friend to which we take a consolation of solace thinking so. Scott goes everywhere and helps him throughout each trial. He helps him by providing the motorcycle; he helps in prostituting himself to Hans the rich German; he goes with him to Italy. Their travel to Italy however leads us to where the film encapsulates what makes this whole story depressing.

They went all the way to Italy to realize that the mother went back to the states. They lost all of going to Italy and struggle to make money going back. Then to top off all the tragedies, we see that Scott fell in love with some woman. Such an event caused Scott to alter into a completely different man. Scott left him as we went back to the states with the Italian woman to show that he does not care for him anymore. His father died so he inherited all the riches and started wearing elegant masculine suits instead of his androgynous outfits. Then abandoned his mentor of the streets when he greeted him back home. Scott abandoned the protagonist and the life itself completely. The film started with the image of the protagonist being oddly alone in a highway, to be contrasted with the image of the protagonist being alone again in the highway. The only difference of the two scenes is the realization of his loneliness at the end of the scene. In his pursuit for searching for his loved ones like his mother, we see that he comes home to lose more than what he could hope for. In the end, he encapsulates his title of being an island with a narcoleptic episode without Scott there to take care of him.

This movie is such a “what the fuck” movie for me. It has been for a week still. The only thing that keeps recurring in my head is the non-monotonous scenarios happening in a very monotonous setting and how it still manages to strike a reality that is possible in our life.

The movie revolves around shifts in a convenience store and a wall clock. A scenario comes up like a normal Korean drama. Plots build up and before I know it, the camera is focused at the wall clock again and an entirely new scenario happens albeit having the setting as the sole thing that remains the same. It is weird that the characters that were customers before become employees but the film generally occurs like that. With each shift of scenario the film and its plot gets weirder and less monotonous. From having a North Korean ex –convict become an employee to be harassed by a customer to a DJ enthusiast having a creepy woman task him with giving someone a box then disappearing after failing and to a robbery happening with one of the final scenes showing the owner hanging himself. I could never make sense of the film and get its chronological sense. Perhaps it was never supposed to make sense and that there is no chronological sense.

The film did a great job in visualizing how the monotonous setting of a convenience store could be something more eventful than we realize. It could perhaps be a fantasy for us but a relatable reality that convenience store clerks only relate to because they are the only ones who truly stay in the stores that long. We can come to realize that almost all of us don’t spend a lot of time in a convenience store especially compared to them. We usually just come in, buy something, look around more, maybe even eat first, and then leave. A convenience store is actually a small area that in a way demands a lot of intimate space for a clerk and a customer which shows how numerous scenarios can happen. The movie shows us incredulous to the unrealistic events happening in the movie. To us we are incredulous, but the clerks can consider this part of the monotony in their lives. You begin to reflect what other things happen which ultimately separates the monotony of their lives to the monotony of our lives. What is worse is how they can easily make such things look like it is just a part of reality. I never had the notion that this is happening out of a fantasy. I had this suspension of disbelief that such things although preposterous happens in real life. Some may say otherwise, but to me, I honestly feel like I cannot disprove such likeliness happening. The only way I can probably disprove such cases is to be a convenience store clerk myself. Then again, I might not be able to tell because of a curse or nobody would believe me; or I might have the illusion that such a life is naturally part of my monotonous life.

The film was truly immersive in showing the life of a drug addict. Some may say that a film like this is just exaggerated black comedy to entertain people with a topic that is not so PG. With this in mind, such a perception shows me why Trainspotting is the ideal film to show to viewers on why the life of a drug addict is not to be emulated.

The film shows up introducing a group of hooligans who are drug addicts and commit such antics to fuel their drug addiction. The protagonist introduces his life and his friends’ showing that he is surrounded with horrible but amusing characters. Some are drug addicts such as himself but with a differently colored personality and others are not; but both are terrible in their own way. He narrates how his life is not amazing but believes in the notion that his life will not get any better by following the status quo of a conventional citizen aka not doing heroin. Eventually he realizes that there are better things in life without heroin but kicking the habit is even more difficult as the movies shows the terrible symptoms of withdrawals and adjusting to the norms of society. Although the humor was spread pretty well throughout the movie, the situation of the protagonist and his friends became even darker through examples like his friend’s baby dying, him overdosing and experiencing troubled withdrawals, one of his best friends passing away, and the reality of life taking an entirely different spin now that he is not on drugs. Elaborating further on life changing, the movie ends towards a risky attempt of selling heroin and thus the protagonist abandoning his friends for a better life with all the money except for one good friend getting his share.

The film impressed me by scaring me well enough to not try heroin and make me enjoy the humor of the misadventures it can bring. It scares me not by doing what conventional public service announcements or government warnings do by scaring me or boring me about the dangers but by attracting me to how funny the life can be. Aside from the great effects to help visualize how it is like to get high, overdose, experience an intense withdrawal (like seeing a dead baby crawl on the ceiling), the film shows how your life does change during and after going through drugs. During drugs you are situated in a terrible environment with terrible people to adapt in such a situation. Although getting out of the habit is one thing, the experience and connections you make during such a life does not escape you and sometimes you have to life with it. The saying “a mate is still a mate” is put to the test time and time again each time Ewan McGregor tried to set himself straight. Eventually, blind loyalty to his mates gets clear to him and makes the first move of betraying them before they could betray him. Such a reality makes me realize that he quit drugs to be a better person like the rest of us. Though being like the rest of us did not really make him a better person.