Week Four New Weird

I watched Snowpiercer.

While Snowpiercer does not fit completely into the “new weird” as we discussed in class, I definitely think it includes elements of the weird. With the film industry suffering from less interest and so many studios only making safe bet films, I really found this movie fresh. It definitely felt a little lower budget VFX wise, but honestly I think this actually worked to its advantage.

            I have recently been watching biopic films, so it was nice to jump into something more allegorical. I found the idea of the remnants of humanity being stuck together on a train to be a little far fetched at first, however that was just my initial mistake of looking at the story literally. The film does a great job of not being overly literal and in the end I really enjoyed it for that. While there is definitely a strong feeling of symbolism in the structure of the train carriages and the layers of brainwashing through out each section of the train, I think some of the ideas in the film are still left very open to interpretation.

            In certain places the symbolism does feel a little heavy handed, but I think Bong Joon-ho gets away with it because of the stylization of the characters, and the almost cartoonish quality to the action. In terms of art direction it has a comic book feel and the color and cinematography was really beautiful throughout.

I really like how this film asks complex questions but allows the viewer to come up with his or her own ideas. It definitely does not just force-feed you a generic concept statement. In terms of “weird” and genre, the film is broadly a science fiction piece, however I think the film blends together a mixture of the horrific, uncanny, and strange. It is definitely a wild ride psychologically, just when you think you understand where everything is heading the floor is pulled out from underneath you. Snowpiercer plays with many different genre conventions and never gives the viewer what they might come to expect from more standard formula Hollywood films.