Daisies is a 1966 Czechoslovak comedy-drama film of the Nová Vlna school. Written and directed by Věra Chytilová, it has a distinct psychedelic feel. The full film used to be available on YouTube but has been removed due to copyright claims. Here is the equally psychedelic trailer.
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Tobe Hooper // EGGSHELLS (1969)
29 Octhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoQMZWUJpUA
Eggshells is an independent low-budget film released in 1969. It is the first film directed by Tobe Hooper. It was written by Kim Henkel and Tobe Hooper (writers of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre).
Tobe Hooper’s first film, Eggshells, released a half decade before The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, has long been considered a lost film, with there being little hope that a print would surface. The film has attracted attention because it is Tobe Hooper’s first film, as well as that of his co-writer, Kim Henkel, and because, by all accounts, it is very much a slice of life and rare record of Austin circa 1968. Against all odds, a print has surfaced. Eggshells will be shown for probably the first time in close to four decades at the South by Southwest Film Festival 09.
Ayahuasca in Hollywood
27 SepIn recent years it seems that ayahuasca appears in an increasing number of Hollywood features. After Nancy drank the sacred brew in Showtime’s Weed, after Jeniffer Aniston had a not very profound trip in the film Wanderlust and Daniel Craig had a sip in Cowboy’s aliens, now we found out that the father and savior of the human race, Noah (Russell Crowe), actually came upon the idea of his life-saving ark in an ayahuasca vision.
It is amusing to see that Hollywood embraces ayahusca visions so heartily. Now let us hope that some serious movies about the ayahuasca experience come from the industry. And here is that Daniel Craig scene…
Alejandro Jodorowsky // DUNE
6 Aug
In 1973, film producer Arthur P. Jacobs optioned the film rights to Dune but died before a film could be developed. The option was then taken over two years later by director Alejandro Jodorowsky, who proceeded to approach, among others, Peter Gabriel, the prog rock groups Pink Floyd and Magma for some of the music, artists H. R. Giger and Jean Giraud for set and character design, Dan O’Bannon for special effects, and Salvador Dalí, Orson Welles, Gloria Swanson and others for the cast.
Frank Herbert traveled to Europe in 1976 to find that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had already been spent in pre-production, and that Jodorowsky’s script would result in a 14-hour movie (“It was the size of a phonebook”, Herbert later recalled). Jodorowsky took creative liberties with the source material, but Herbert said that he and Jodorowsky had an amicable relationship. The project ultimately stalled for financial reasons. The film rights lapsed until 1982, when they were purchased by Italian filmmaker Dino DeLaurentiis, who eventually released the 1984 film Dune, directed by David Lynch.
The Dance of Reality
17 JulAlejandro Jodorowsky’s first movie in 23 years is a master piece. Jodorowsky is one of the most important psychedelic and spiritual film makers. To talk about “The Dance of Reality” in cinematic terms is like talking about Budhist chanting in musical terms. This film is a prayer, it’s an ode to life, it’s psychedelic cinema at one of its most important moment where visual, text and sound take you through a journey through the inner reality and the healing process of one person only to show you the true nature of the outer reality we all live in.
and I want to thank Ido Hartogsohn for introducing me to Jodorowsky’s work!
“Seconds” and “Cape Fear” Title Sequences by Saul Bass
25 MayThis is the title sequence from the 1966 cult thriller “Seconds” (by John Frankenheimer). It has been created by Saul Bass who is a master of the art of the title sequence.
You can see some of the themes of this title sequence return in his work for 1991’s “Cape Fear” (by Martin Scorsese).
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish
14 AprThe Mystery of the Leaping Fish is a 1916 movie whose protagonist is a cocaine using detective (Sherlock Holmes himself, you might remember was an avid cocaine user). The film, co-written by American film pioneer D.W. Griffith, includes some of the earliest depictions of drug use in American cinema.
Crystal Fairy – Official Trailer
6 AprI haven’t watched “Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus”, Michael Cera’s latest psychedelic flick, but from watching the trailer it appears to the freshest take on the hallucinogenic drug experience to be seen in Hollywood cinema for a long time.
Firmeza. A Ludovica Amati ss13 film by Asia Argento
15 MarAsia Argento, the daughter of legendary Italian horror film director Dario Argento, created a short film which includes a powerful scene of an ayahuasca ceremony and mixes Santo Daime songs together with items from Ludovica Amati’s Spring/Summer 2013 collection.
BAKENTI – Julieta Triangular
10 MarBakenti is a planned shipibo inspired short film. You can find the fund raising here.
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