Un chien andalou (1929)'s comments - page 2

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TheBanana

Truly disturbing. And yet so brilliant in a way. Argh.

12 years 3 months ago

starnamedstork

I do believe the title roughly translates into "15 minutes of WTF".

12 years 3 months ago

Imogen

Fuck this movie, I hate eye-gore

12 years 3 months ago

HyliaFischer

in the crowd surrounding the man playing with the hand, there's one person who looks just like Charlie Sheen :D

12 years 4 months ago

rtrench

slicing up eyeballs
whoa ho ho ho

12 years 4 months ago

Cornelius P.

I expected something more complex from the masters of surrealism; a near masterpiece nonetheless.

12 years 8 months ago

Dieguito

Hallucinating, surrealist, memorable scenes, amazing soundtrack!! Best short ever!

12 years 9 months ago

brian_fuller - I guess it depends on what your class conversation was about. If the professor was attempting to get the class to make sense of the narrative, then it was a futile exercise.

On the other hand, surrealism, at its best, is a strongly political and intellectual movement. Whether the artists intended it or not (judging by their other works, I would say they did), the film does have much to say about the nature of editing, of the various components that make up a film, and of narrative in general. Because we are watching a film, we are psychologically forced into finding a coherent narrative where there is none. A constructive conversation could indeed be had about the film's usurpation of traditional narrative and film grammar and for its strong psychological effect.

And, for the record, your last sentence basically says: "I dislike it when people agree with my obviously objective opinion about a film." Unfortunately, like a film or not, the Emperor is very rarely naked, and he certainly is not in this case. The film is an utter delight to watch, and there is more going on then you'd like to admit. After watching it the first time, I immediately started it over - not to find some "missing piece" that would finally allow the film to make sense, but rather to revel in its indelible imagery and hilarious "mind games."

The "16 years earlier" card in the middle of the bedroom scene still manages to crack me up every time.

12 years 11 months ago

brian_fuller

Andalusian Dog was my introduction to film school. A professor screened it for students the first night of class, then led us in extended deconstruction. I presume his intent was to inspire discussion with cognitive dissonance.

Collaborators Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel surely wanted to mess with minds when they made the film in 1929. And, yes, audiences often talk about the film at great length afterward. They are trying to make sense of a stack of surreal and disturbing images. But Buñuel himself argued that there was no sense to be made of them.

And so I heard in that night's soundtrack -- there beneath voices engaged in serious academic discussion -- distant, derisive laughter from the grave. I heard Dalí and Buñuel chuckling as we worked to rationally explain what we had seen and what it meant.

Maybe I don't truly dislike this film. Perhaps instead, I dislike the too-serious gaze of the scholar who cannot admit when the Emperor is indeed naked.

13 years 8 months ago