Slipstream
A Film by Anthony Hopkins
Aging screenwriter Felix Bonhoeffer has lived his life in two states of existence - the world of reality and the world inside his head. Hired to rewrite a murder mystery set in a desert diner and unaware that his brain is on the verge of implosion, Felix is politely baffled when the characters from his movie start showing up in his life and vice versa. Felix tries to maintain his equanimity as reality and fantasy collide in an increasingly whirling slipstream, while his memory banks fire off seemingly random references to songs and sci-fi movies from the Fifties.
Member Reviews
Confusing? Yes. Good? Yes. - metabolics
I agree this is a bit of a confusing film, but if you think about what the director was trying to do, it makes sense...more or less. The use of colour, flashbacks and jump-cuts make for an interesting and uncomfortable experience, but its still worthwhile.Snore! - kedar
I agree with Wolffman. This was a stinker. Anthony Hopkins may be a great actor, but this wasn't one he should be bragging about. It lost us about 15 minutes into it and at about the half hour mark I nodded off. The story was all over the place and the editing was just weird. Certainly not worth renting.It's a stinker - WolffMann
Of course your more erudite reviewers will shake their heads and lament the fact that pedestrian movie watchers like me, who just don't get it, are even allowed to rent the film. But the fact that no one picked up this movie at film festivals for so long, and the half empty theatre when it opened in LA, have to tell you something.
One thing's for sure. It's everything Sir Anthony said it is. I am prepared to believe that it does indeed capture the "stuttering nature" of how his thoughts arise and the "malleable logic" of his dreams. (I just wish he had used less of those tiring stutter-edit gimmicks that you see in cheesy furniture store ads. And fewer of those flashbacks and fleeting, arcane cinema references that would be put to better use in a Name That Tune kind of game show.)
Sir A said in an interview that if the film confuses or annoys people, he has achieved his objective. 10 out of 10 for that one. If you can't follow the logic, it's because you're not supposed to--life isn't always logical, he says. Another 10.
I have a confession to make. I have not yet watched the film from start to finish uninterupted. I think I have seen all of it though, thanks to the magic of DVD scene selection. When my own snoring woke me from a snooze, I just zipped back to the last scene that I remembered and picked up the thread. But hey, maybe that's how Sir A intended it to be viewed.
Member Reviews
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Confusing? Yes. Good? Yes. - metabolics
I agree this is a bit of a confusing film, but if you think about what the director was trying to do, it makes sense...more or less. The use of colour, flashbacks and jump-cuts make for an interesting and uncomfortable experience, but its still worthwhile.Snore! - kedar
I agree with Wolffman. This was a stinker. Anthony Hopkins may be a great actor, but this wasn't one he should be bragging about. It lost us about 15 minutes into it and at about the half hour mark I nodded off. The story was all over the place and the ...It's a stinker - WolffMann
Of course your more erudite reviewers will shake their heads and lament the fact that pedestrian movie watchers like me, who just don't get it, are even allowed to rent the film. But the fact that no one picked up this movie at film festivals for so long, ...