Un Chien Andalou is what happens when you get two Surrealists to make a film inspired by their dreams. And there are no dogs, Andalusian or otherwise, in this film.
I didn't know that something that is only 20-ish minutes long would have me wanting to whip out the eyeball bleach, but, you know, that's what this film is like.
No matter which direction, which theory, which angle you'll come at it, this film will never make sense. And it's not supposed to, either. Instead, its strange, incomprehensible and borderline disturbing imagery is supposed to feel much like the dreams that it was inspired by.
I've been a fan of surrealism for as long as I can remember - I can vividly recall 9-year-old me poring over a book of Salvador Dali's art, and even now I'm engrossed in the films of David Lynch and the like, but I think that Un Chien Andalou is *the* surrealist film that defined the Surrealist movement of the 20s and today. Honestly, I didn't even watch this for a film class as most people who watched it do, I just caught sight of it on IMDb as a French surrealist film from the 20s and immediately beelined to YouTube.
A lot of the motifs already found commonly in Dali's paintings star in this film - ants, rotting animals, dismembered body parts. The effects for 1929 were simply mind-blowing and it was all incredibly well-put together. And, despite the lack of sound, it was still jarring as ever.
It really all did play out like a dream - nonsensical logic, storylines doubling back on each other, impossible spatial configurations and just general strangeness. But for me, surreal, disturbing, frightening and generally strange films are the most interesting and my favourites, just because of how they challenge the brain and shove you into territory you would have never thought of going into.
Un Chien Andalou is not a film for everyone, but I thoroughly recommend it, because you will, albeit in some sick and twisted way, enjoy it.
-Sasha.
I didn't know that something that is only 20-ish minutes long would have me wanting to whip out the eyeball bleach, but, you know, that's what this film is like.
No matter which direction, which theory, which angle you'll come at it, this film will never make sense. And it's not supposed to, either. Instead, its strange, incomprehensible and borderline disturbing imagery is supposed to feel much like the dreams that it was inspired by.
I've been a fan of surrealism for as long as I can remember - I can vividly recall 9-year-old me poring over a book of Salvador Dali's art, and even now I'm engrossed in the films of David Lynch and the like, but I think that Un Chien Andalou is *the* surrealist film that defined the Surrealist movement of the 20s and today. Honestly, I didn't even watch this for a film class as most people who watched it do, I just caught sight of it on IMDb as a French surrealist film from the 20s and immediately beelined to YouTube.
A lot of the motifs already found commonly in Dali's paintings star in this film - ants, rotting animals, dismembered body parts. The effects for 1929 were simply mind-blowing and it was all incredibly well-put together. And, despite the lack of sound, it was still jarring as ever.
It really all did play out like a dream - nonsensical logic, storylines doubling back on each other, impossible spatial configurations and just general strangeness. But for me, surreal, disturbing, frightening and generally strange films are the most interesting and my favourites, just because of how they challenge the brain and shove you into territory you would have never thought of going into.
Un Chien Andalou is not a film for everyone, but I thoroughly recommend it, because you will, albeit in some sick and twisted way, enjoy it.
-Sasha.