Dark Star: H.R. Giger's World (2015)

Dark Star: H.R. Giger's World (2015)

Dir. Belinda Sallin

A documentary that invites viewers into the Swiss artist's home, a retreat hidden within a protective border of trees and shadow, packed with a lifetime of books, journals and receipts upon shelves that are under stress. I've been a Giger fan since I was a teenager, so I knew I'd find something of value even if the rest was sycophantic or flat, but the film is surprisingly good. I say 'surprisingly' because it was Dir. Belinda Sallin's first feature-length venture and that always leaves some room for doubt.

It was filmed in the year leading up to Giger's death. He looks worn out, as if the burden of the artistic genius he carried for so long has extracted a visible toll and he's resigned to merely waiting for the inevitable; even conversing with friends and loved ones seems occasionally laborious for him.

The fly on the wall moments are coupled with interviews of his many aides (including Tom G. Warrior) and slow-moving appreciations of the art, so it's for fans of the paintings not his film work because while Alien is featured his other projects are either blink and you'll miss it (such as the unused production work for Dune) or mentioned/shown only briefly (Species).

If you've seen his paintings only in books you may be surprised to see how large they are in reality, some are easily six to eight feet high, almost filling entire walls of the cluttered house.

-A quick drink before the guests arrive. He's not so different, after all.-

What I hadn't expected to see was the amazing garden that he created, populated with many of his own sculptures, some secreted away behind foliage or in tunnels. If Alice had gone through a looking glass made by Giger, or if Lucy had entered a wardrobe crafted by him, it would be much the same result. I could spend days in that magical place and not tire of its sights.