Idaho Transfer (1973)

Idaho Transfer (1973)

Dir. Peter Fonda

Because it's my favourite genre, I've watched hundreds of science fiction films and TV Series in my lifetime — everything from Méliès to modern trash; from love songs to the genre made on a shoestring budget to Hollywood excesses that cost stupid amounts of money — but never one quite like Idaho Transfer before, which makes it even more interesting to me than it might be otherwise.

It's an arty, minimalist production that's both peaceful and oddly unsettling. Even though they're in very different genres, it's reminiscent of Easy Rider (1969) at times in its editing and in how it presents an important worldview in an understated but engaging manner. It even has something that reminds of the former's cemetery scene.

The plot involves an unnamed future cataclysm that destroys life on earth; all life or just some of it, we don't know. A chosen group of under-twenties travel fifty-six years into their own future to avoid the end. Free of government and societal pressures they have an opportunity to start civilisation over again, hopefully for the better.

As far as I know, at time of writing it isn't available to purchase or stream in any kind of HD format. The market for it is probably just too small. But it was shot on 35 mm, so there's hope.

The Sandman Presents: The Furies (2002)

The Furies (2002)

Author: Mike Carey | Illustrator: John Bolton | Page Count: 96

"[T]he immortality resides in the role, not in the being that enacts it."

Events in The Furies take place a few years after the end of Neil Gaiman's lengthy Sandman saga (1989-96).

It continues the story of a secondary character named Lyta Hall, so if you've not read all 75 issues (collected as 10 volumes, previously reviewed on the blog), then you'll be missing a huge chunk of backstory. In truth, it would be best to not read The Furies if you lack that Sandman knowledge, because it's largely reliant on it.

Carey's words build an atmosphere that's thick and oppressive. Bolton's painted art complements it.

Bolton is a superb artist, so it's hard to say for sure, but there may be some actual photography blended into the backgrounds. Either way, it manages to be more emotionally affecting than the text; it almost feels as if the brush strokes have actual pain and a unique kind of anguish captured within them.

Doctor Sleep (2019)

Doctor Sleep (2019)

Dir. Mike Flanagan

I expected an adaptation of a novel that I didn't like to be equally unpleasing, but hats off to Dir. Mike Flanagan, who made a film that's better than the book it's based on.

Not only does it succeed in tightening King's long-winded narrative for the screen, but it does a commendable job at uniting the differing creative points of view that exist in the original The Shining (1977) novel and Dir. Stanley Kubrick's controversial adaption of it.

At times it mimics the tonal language that was so meticulously crafted by Kubrick for his version, through movement, framing and even music, but those moments sit alongside an excellent rechannelling of the Dr Sleep novel.

Neon Genesis Evangelion: TV Series (1995-96)

Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995-96)

Dirs. Hideaki Anno / Masayuki / Kazuya Tsurumaki | 26 episodes, approx 23 mins each

Fourteen-year-old Shinji Ikari arrives in the futuristic Tokyo-3, having been summoned there by a father that he's not seen in over three years.

Shinji's abandonment issues and his father's overbearing (though often silent) judging of the boy's measure puts an excruciating amount of stress upon the youth's inexperienced shoulders.

The emotional tearing that develops from the conflicting hatred of his estranged father and the simultaneous craving for his approval and love is a major defining attribute of the teenager.

But if that wasn't enough to deal with, Shinji is required to take on a task that would challenge even a hardened combat veteran, with nothing less than the fate of humanity on the line if he fails.

It's a situation that puts him directly in his father's line of sight, and increases the fear of failure and sense of worthlessness that the boy nurtures.