Two films

I’ve just seen a terrifyingly dystopian film, one whose bleak outlook far exceeds that of previous horrors such as Threads or The Day After. Unwittingly I took my children along, expecting a reasonable entertainment. In the two nights that have since passed, I haven’t been awoken by their cries in the night, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time. I have seen the future and not a single human being will be left on the planet, nor will there be an insect, a bird or animal to trouble the horizon. In our place, metal monsters will ceaselessly roam the earth. In the future, the very mountains will be shaped like fenders, bonnets and wheel arches. Such a vision surely trumps even Ballard’s worst nightmares and would have had Barthes a-quiver had he not been felled by one of the machine’s ancestors.

The aforementioned film serves as intermission entertainment to my first ever viewing of Jean-Luc Godard’s Weekend (I caught the first half a few days ago and haven’t had a chance to see the rest yet). With its scenes of random violence, seemingly endless traffic jams and serious playfulness, it’s a welcome antidote to the mawkish sentimentality, banality and awful exhaustion of Cars.