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CERTIFICATE 18 - ART HOUSE CINEMA Soundtrack by Jim Thirlwell (Foetus) J.G. Ballard once said that the Atrocity Exhibition had been considered his only 'unfilmable' novel. Until Jonathan Weiss' feature adaptation of this infamous work of experimental fiction, a film which Ballard calls, 'a poetic masterpiece'. Of all the films made of Ballard's fiction, only The Atrocity Exhibition contains a full length DVD commentary by the author himself. Less a commentary than a philosophical discourse on the nature of present reality, Ballard fans should find this a treasure in itself. The Atrocity Exhibition, Ballard's landmark 1968 work of non narrative fiction and the predecessor to Crash, follows a doctor in a mental research institution through the course of his own mental breakdown. What does it mean to be insane in a world itself insane? Ballard and Weiss explore this question in most disquieting ways, as the inner world of Doctor Travis morphs into the outer world of reality. The universal media landscape in which we all now reside becomes a dreamlike background for all the psychopathologies of modern life. Violence, sex, technology, pornography and death are the themes played out hypnotically in the film Doctor Travis has 'made'-- The Atrocity Exhibition. The film weaves found footage from Hiroshima, Vietnam, Kennedy's assassination and other 'real´ sources into itself, creating a work of film art unlike anything you have ever seen.
Product Description
Netherlands released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Dutch ( Subtitles ), French ( Subtitles ), German ( Subtitles ), Spanish ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Booklet, Commentary, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: In a mental institution, things have gone wrong. A doctor has enlisted patients and staff in staging a series of bizarre dramas. Is it a record of his own mental breakdown, or a collapse between the outer and inner worlds of reality which inhabit us all? ...The Atrocity Exhibition
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By Murasaki53
Format:DVD
What the previous reviewer has overlooked is a quite extraordinary commentary on the film by JG Ballard that is one of this Disc's extras and highlights. Throughout the 80 minutes that this commentary goes on for Ballard throws out a stream of ideas and comments on Modernity that help to illuminate both the original book and the movie. Atrocity Exhibition is, obviously, both avant-garde and, to a degree, impenetrable, but Ballard functions like the most well-informed Tour Guide you could imagine and makes the whole thing accessible. It also has to be said that Jonathan Weiss does his bit to get the most out of Ballard too, so much so that by the end I was also inclined to view the film itself more generously. If you are contemplating a purchase, be reassured that listening to Ballard speak alongside Weiss's imagery might be the best way to experience this DVD. Either way, I would thoroughly recommend it as a wonderful companion to the novel. Even if you have the annotated version be aware that Ballard's contribution here is also very different from his asides in that edition.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By S. C. Rocha
Format:DVD
Everybody I saw reviews of has a kind of bad trip about this film. I can't understand why exactly, everybody wants to point its pretentiousness and such...
Here is my POV: the opening prologue is scary I thought (but if you hear the audio commentary you'll know that Ballard wrote it exclusively for Weiss version) but soon after that, oh man, its beautiful! If you know the book you'll get it more clearly and specially how Weiss shape it after the book and render it to film form.
If you, for example, take a film like cornenberg's Naked Lunch (wich is more a hommage to Burroughs than a direct adaptation from the title) it's a straight story unlike the book. But here with Atrocity the fragmentation is faithful without following the book too closely. And there's no way making this in a commercial movie.
Weiss has guts! His film is close to Eraserhead than to film adaptations like Cronenberg's Crash.
Here is my POV: the opening prologue is scary I thought (but if you hear the audio commentary you'll know that Ballard wrote it exclusively for Weiss version) but soon after that, oh man, its beautiful! If you know the book you'll get it more clearly and specially how Weiss shape it after the book and render it to film form.
If you, for example, take a film like cornenberg's Naked Lunch (wich is more a hommage to Burroughs than a direct adaptation from the title) it's a straight story unlike the book. But here with Atrocity the fragmentation is faithful without following the book too closely. And there's no way making this in a commercial movie.
Weiss has guts! His film is close to Eraserhead than to film adaptations like Cronenberg's Crash.
1 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Jason Parkes
#1 HALL OF FAME
Format:DVD
This attempt at adapting J.G. Ballard's groundbreaking 1960s work is one of the worst adaptations in cinematic history. I am pretty certain it put me in a coma. This comes across as highly pretentious, po-faced and its attempt to transpose the challenging text ultimately fails. I think it's possible to make an interesting film of 'The Atrocity Exhibition', but I think this would involve sticking to the core text and using the kind of visual approach to history Oliver Stone took with 'Nixon.'
Previous Ballard-adaptations 'Empire of the Sun' and 'Crash' have been fine - this is worse than 'Low Flying Aircraft' a few years ago. Ballard has lots of works that should adapt well - 'High Rise' (Bruce Robinson wrote a screenplay),'The Drought', 'Cocaine Nights', 'Concrete Island', 'The Drowned World', 'Super Cannes' - but this is not the way. The only thing I liked about this was the soundtrack from J.G. Thirwell - the man behind Scraping Foetus off the Wheel, Wiseblood & Manorexia - I do hope you can buy this music. Thirwell's soundtrack here should have people like David Fincher banging on the door - otherwise avoid at all costs and stick with the annotated book. It's much safer...
Previous Ballard-adaptations 'Empire of the Sun' and 'Crash' have been fine - this is worse than 'Low Flying Aircraft' a few years ago. Ballard has lots of works that should adapt well - 'High Rise' (Bruce Robinson wrote a screenplay),'The Drought', 'Cocaine Nights', 'Concrete Island', 'The Drowned World', 'Super Cannes' - but this is not the way. The only thing I liked about this was the soundtrack from J.G. Thirwell - the man behind Scraping Foetus off the Wheel, Wiseblood & Manorexia - I do hope you can buy this music. Thirwell's soundtrack here should have people like David Fincher banging on the door - otherwise avoid at all costs and stick with the annotated book. It's much safer...
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