WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:08.760 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:14.800 Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:17.840 This is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick, and 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:20.880 today we are going to be talking about the nineteen 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:27.800 eighty one science fiction film Visitors from the Arcana Galaxy. Rob. 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:31.120 I just finished watching this one moments before we sat 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:34.000 down to record here, and wow, this is in our 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:36.920 It's got to be on the top ten list of 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:39.400 weirdest movies we have ever done on the show. 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:42.040 Yeah, this one was a real pleasure. This one's a 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:45.120 real treat. This one's worth hunting down. And I have 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:48.239 to say also thanks to listener Eric for recommending this 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:51.040 one to us. He pointed out some months ago that 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:55.160 the excellent restoration label Deaf Crocodile was going to be 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:58.720 putting this one out, and I looked at the cover art, 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:00.720 I looked at some of the stills from the film, 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:03.040 and I was like, Okay, I think I need to 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:05.399 buy this one. So I put in the pre order, 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:09.240 set it aside during Halloween with the intention of coming 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:10.880 back to it in November, and here we are. 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:14.360 Yes, thank you for the recommendation. So Rob, this was 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:17.119 your pick. I really didn't know anything at all about 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:19.160 it going in, except you handed the disc off to 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:21.640 me said here's what we're watching. I put it in, 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:25.280 and wow, this is the movie where you really do 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:27.400 not know where this is going. Some of the weird 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:30.880 movies we talk about have a weird texture to them, 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:33.280 but they might be kind of formulaic in terms of 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:36.039 plot structure. A lot of the you know, horror movies 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:37.560 we look at or like that you can kind of 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:40.000 tell where they're going to go. This one, I had 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:43.560 no idea where it was going, and it felt at 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:46.840 times like a child, you know, trying to make up 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:49.680 a story as they go along, adding in just bizarre 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:52.520 details like I really didn't expect there was going to 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:55.680 be a major subplot where the main character of this 0:01:55.760 --> 0:02:00.520 movie's girlfriend is turned into a metalic cube. And I 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:05.000 also did not expect, especially given how some earlier parts 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:11.200 of the movie feel very broad and whimsical and almost childlikes, 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:14.520 like they might be intended for like a younger audience. 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:17.400 I really did not expect that later in this movie 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:22.399 there would just be a gory monster rampage carried out 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:26.080 by like the Axis Bold as Love cover version of 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:29.120 like a cross between Alf and Mickey Mouse. 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:34.400 Yeah, mumu the monster. It's gonna be fun to talk about. Yeah, 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:36.400 this is a move. It's like so many films, like 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:40.000 you're saying, they're on the tracks of genre, they're on 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:44.840 the tracks of formula, and this one, with this film, 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:46.520 it may seem at first like it's going to be 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:48.480 on the tracks, but no, the train lifts off the 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:51.880 tracks and then you're flying off to who knows where, 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:53.799 And we'll get into some of the reasons for that, 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:57.799 like the different elements and inspirations that came together the 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:01.919 alchemy of this picture. So this movie was a nineteen 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:07.639 eighty one co production of Yugoslav and Czechoslovakian cinema involving 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:12.359 four different studios. Zagreb Film which is now in Croatia, 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:19.400 Jadrun Film also now in Croatia, Kenny Montografi Zagreb which 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:23.480 is also now in Croatia, and then film Ski Studio Barrandov, 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:24.920 now in the Czech Republic. 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:27.440 An international co production. 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:31.639 An international co production of two countries that no longer 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:34.800 exist in the form they existed in at the time 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:39.520 of this film's release. Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. In particular. 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:41.600 I don't know exactly where this was shot, but I 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:45.520 would guess it was along the Croatian coastline because the 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:48.440 movie has a much more I don't know, it's just 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:51.960 kind of scenic Mediterranean feel than I was expecting as well. 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:56.280 Yeah, it's my understanding that this was filmed in Croatia, 0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:59.800 and yeah, you do have that texture of these like 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:04.160 Oatian vacation towns, and they touch on that more than once. 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:09.320 It's an important part of the background setting for the 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:12.600 whole picture. And I was reading some of the background 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:17.400 material for this particular film. The Deaf Crocodile release has 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:21.000 a nice little booklet with information about the picture and 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:25.960 the filmmakers by film professor Jennifer Lynde Barker, and she 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:27.880 points out that a lot of the locations used from 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:30.839 this film might look familiar to people who watch Game 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:32.599 of Thrones because a lot of scenes from Game of 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:34.800 Thrones were filmed in the exact same locations. 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:37.000 Oh yeah, that would make sense. 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:41.280 I think King's Landing. I'm not sure I'm remembering that correctly, 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:44.159 but I think the King's Landing scenes were filmed in Croatia. 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:45.840 But I could have that mixed around in my head, 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:48.520 and it's another place in the Game of Thrones TV 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:49.880 show that was filmed in Croatia. 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:52.880 You absolutely on Game of Thrones. I think we'll see 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:57.040 multiple locations that are, you know, coastal areas on the Adriatic. 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:00.320 Yeah, all right, Well, my elevator pitch for this movie is, 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:03.400 if you gaze long enough into the abyss, the abyss 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:06.720 will physically manifest, move into your flat and turn your 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:08.240 girlfriend into a cube. 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:11.240 I think that's dead on that. Yeah, that's exactly how 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:14.680 I describe it. You know, I haven't had as much 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:17.120 time to process this one as I sometimes do when 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:19.440 we watch these movies, because I just now finished watching it. 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:21.240 But I was trying to think, so, this is a 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:24.320 story about a writer and a dreamer, a creative person. 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:27.200 Of course, a lot of writers end up writing stories 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:29.960 that are about writing. It's kind of it's a very 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:33.000 tempting subject if you know, to write about what you 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:35.360 are doing right now, which is writing, if you're writing. 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:40.120 But I was wondering to what extent the themes of this 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:45.320 movie are supposed to be about writing specifically, or if 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:48.960 it's incidental that the main character is a sort of 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:53.159 dreamy science fiction storyteller, and really it's supposed to be 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:58.560 more about relationships or just obsession or whatever. The main 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:02.120 character often describes his own problem not so much in 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:06.440 direct terms of like creativity or writing, but as an obsession. 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:10.640 Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think multiple reads on it 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:15.880 are of course valid, but yeah, it is fascinating that 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:18.360 it is. It's not alone in being a picture about 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:21.919 sort of the conflict between a creative obsession and the 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:25.920 responsibilities of real life, and just sort of the texture 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:29.679 and nature of real life versus fantasy and what happens 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:34.120 when these two worlds come into conflict. But as we'll discuss, 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:36.479 like one of the interesting things about Robert, the main 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:39.240 character in this, the writer, is he doesn't seem to 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:42.719 get a lot of writing accomplished. There's this strong sense 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:46.560 that the book is nowhere near any state of completion, 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:49.560 and it, like physically manifests later on, is a blank book. 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:54.640 So it's almost really more about the conflict between the 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:58.279 inner world of imagination and the outer world, you know, 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:01.200 something that's been tackled in some and he works, including 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:03.400 the never Ending Story. I mean, that's part of the 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:07.080 whole scenario there, except with this whole childhood versus adult 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:09.080 sort of scenario cobbled into it as well. 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:12.000 That's a very good point. I think I was gonna 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:15.560 say something right along those lines that the writing in 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:19.200 this movie is there's never any indication that it involves 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:23.680 language at all. Like you don't see him crafting sentences 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:29.240 or paragraphs or like working on his his fiction. It's 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:32.680 purely about coming up with ideas. And you can tell 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:35.480 it because he likes to talk them into a handheld 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:39.200 tape recorder. He's got like a cassette based voice memo thing, 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:42.440 and so it and this is I think we will 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:45.720 all recognize. In fact, I think most writers will recognize 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:49.560 some part of themselves that is like this, that likes 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:52.280 to just come up with ideas for things. 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:55.520 Yeah, And part of the whole conflict in the story too, 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:58.560 is that when he dreams up things, when there are 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:03.000 things that he wants, he has this peculiar paranormal ability 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:07.960 to manifest them in reality, which that's kind of makes one, 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:09.960 I guess, a crappy writer in the end, because you 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.000 don't have to write it down right, because it's already 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:16.320 so you're already making it real through some supernatural ability. 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:18.760 And I think you could compare that to sort of 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:23.400 like the pure idea dreamscape of creative endeavor. Like you know, 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:25.920 you can set around and create whole worlds in your head, 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:28.960 and you know that can be the end of it, 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:30.680 and there's nothing wrong with that. You don't have to, 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:34.120 you know, to bring your rich inner life, you know, 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:37.880 into a literary creation. You don't have to share it 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:40.160 with the world. You don't have to market it and 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:43.200 get a price tag slapped on it and so forth 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:45.200 and try and fill out some sort of you know, 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:50.400 a capitalist dream of what you should be. But but, 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:53.120 but but Robert in the film, like he still wants 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:54.920 to be a writer, and he still has this this 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:56.880 aspiration that that is what he's going to be in 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:58.559 reality as well. 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:02.160 Yeah, but it's all like to level dreamy, dream based. 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:05.520 It's all just the pure imagination point. And that is 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:09.280 an interesting comment on writing, because I think it's very 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:11.679 much the case, at least in my opinion, that almost 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:15.360 always part of the magic of good writing arises from 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:19.360 the conflict between like your initial imagine imagination of a 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.760 story and then the process of putting that into language 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:25.960 and getting it on the page, which fights back against 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:29.400 your original imagination and makes you change things, often for 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:29.840 the better. 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:33.440 Yeah, all right, well we'll continue this thread as we 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:36.840 discussed the movie further here, but let's go ahead and 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:39.360 here a little bit of audio from the film. I 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:43.319 could not find a video clip of like an original 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:46.680 trailer for the film, so we're gonna hear just a 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:50.640 little bit from the Deaf Crocodile Restoration trailer. So just 0:09:50.880 --> 0:10:05.880 a little bit of this JJ if you would planet. 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:12.360 Erstigli. 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:31.920 All right, well, if you want to watch Visitors from 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:36.720 the Arcana Galaxy before continuing on with this episode. Currently, 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:39.280 the main way to see it is to buy the 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:43.760 excellent restoration from Deaf Crocodile. You can look them up 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:47.000 at Deaf Crocodile dot com, but there the disc is 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:51.160 also sold through various other online retailers like Vinegar Syndrome 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:54.959 and so forth, wherever you can get it. I recommend 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:56.360 picking it up if this is the sort of film 0:10:56.400 --> 0:10:58.720 that interests you. As far as I know, it's not 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:02.240 available like streaming wise anywhere else right now, but a 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:05.079 lot of these releases often wind up like that later on, 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:08.280 so I don't keep an eye open for it just 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:11.200 in case, But def Crocodile's put off the likes of 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:14.040 films like The Sun of the Stars, Sampo and Delta 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:18.480 Space Mission. Their Blu ray releases look awesome, and this 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:20.800 one in particular has a number of cool extras on it, 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:24.440 which we'll get into. Any Atlanta locals out there, you 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:27.040 should be advised that Videodrome does have a copy. I 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:28.800 checked with them, so they do have a copy of 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:29.960 this movie for rent. 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:32.600 But the first one to get there gets it, that's right. 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:34.320 And then you gotta wait. Tell them you know how 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:36.560 it works. You know a video rent works. If you don't, 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:38.719 just ask them, go in and ask them how does 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:39.120 this work? 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:43.480 They'll tell you. Two film geeks enter, one film geek leaves. Yes. 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:46.920 All right, let's get into the people behind this film. 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:49.400 Let's start right at the top with the director and 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:54.240 one of two writers on this Dusan Vukotic born nineteen 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:56.760 twenty seven died nineteen ninety eight born in what is 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:01.440 now Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to Jennifer Lynne Barker in 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:04.800 the excellent booklet that came with the Deaf Crocodile release, 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:08.559 he started off as a political and satirical cartoonist in 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:12.000 the nineteen forties, but then became involved in film during 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:15.600 the fifties, right as animation was beginning to thrive in 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:18.160 Croatia for the first time, so he was one of 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:22.400 the early innovators there. In addition to animated shorts, he 0:12:22.440 --> 0:12:27.000 also did advertisements for Jardin Film before founding Zagreb Film 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:30.760 Studio his animation where it continued through the nineteen sixties. 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:33.560 And I have to stress too, this disc is also 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:37.160 awesome the Deaf Crocodile release in that it has a 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:42.360 number of his animated shorts included in excellent quality and 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:44.600 these were really fun to check out as well to see, well, 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:47.360 what was his animated work like before he turned to 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:48.600 live action. 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:53.079 I would say this is a live action film where 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:57.640 the set pieces in costumes and makeup effects and all 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:02.720 that are very reminist scent of animation. Somehow, there are 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:04.920 not really animated elements. I mean, I guess there's sort 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:07.120 of like some laser effects on the screen, but there's 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:11.000 not any straight animation. It's all. It's all live to film, 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:13.720 but it does kind of look like a cartoon similar 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:15.520 to I'm trying to think of another movie we've done 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:17.839 that was like, this Return to Oz kind of has 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:19.040 this quality. 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:23.280 Yeah, this kind of sense that even though it is 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:28.760 live action, there is a basic animation absurdity to things. 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:31.800 And I feel like you also see you see this 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:35.079 element in other filmmakers as well, like Tim Burton, I 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:37.640 think is an example of this. Like many of Tim 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:40.560 Burton's live action films, they still have that kind of 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:42.920 animated cartoon energy in them. 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:46.800 There, but it's also just there are certain visual qualities 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:49.839 that seem similar to animation to me, like a lot 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:55.760 of bold lines and costume designs that just feel drawn 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:58.440 as opposed to put together out of cloth, you know. 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:03.280 Yeah, Well, he started doing live action stuff, I believe 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:05.559 in the nineteen eighties, and like through the nineteen eighties, 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:08.240 did a mix of animation and live action. He was 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:11.880 also a professor and film theorist. According to Barker, he 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:15.000 also co founded the second oldest animation film festival in 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:21.200 the world, currently known as anomy Fest Zagreb. His animation 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:24.520 style on its own in these shorts that are included 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:27.360 on this disc are wonderful. They're absurd, They're full of 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:31.760 abstract shapes and possessed of a perky energy. But also 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:35.400 like a genuine comedy like these are not like crazy 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:39.040 experimental Film Board of Canada sort of fair where it's 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:41.720 not to say that you know that all Film Board 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:44.280 of Canada animation shorts are the same, but you know 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:47.200 it's not like super serious stuff. It's about, obviously about 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:50.240 making people laugh. And I feel like you see this 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:53.400 kind of energy reflected in some of the retro animation 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:59.200 projects you've seen in recent decades, such as the Pixar 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:02.480 short Day and Night from twenty ten, the videos from 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:06.640 the Fallout games. Also the MCU Loki series has a 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:10.920 little video about the time variance authority that I mean, 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:13.560 I have no idea if they were inspired by Vukotic, 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:16.080 but I feel like there's a lot of comparisons to 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:20.480 be made here between the two works. Barker also describes 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:26.640 his animation style as being bouncy, and the animation is 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:29.640 certainly bouncy. But he was a big success with these. 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:33.880 The nineteen sixty one short Surrogat won the Academy Award 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:37.880 for Short Subjects Cartoons the following year in nineteen sixty two. 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:40.840 This is one about a guy who goes to the beach. 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:42.760 He's kind of like, I guess if you were a 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:45.120 real person who would be kind of like a rotunda fella. 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:48.680 But everything's made out of abstract shapes, so he's kind 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:51.760 of a triangle. And he gets there to the beach 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:54.920 and he starts blowing up things like he blows up 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:57.000 a float, but then he's blowing up things like a 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:01.680 table and food, and then he blows up a female 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:04.000 to hang out with him, and the first one he 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:06.160 doesn't like, so he deflates her, and then he blows 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:09.080 up another one. But then it just escalates from there 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:10.200 and just gets ridiculous. 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:12.720 Okay, is she also a triangle? 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:17.800 She's very Yeah, they're all everybody's very geometric. This one 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:20.480 is available. You can find it on YouTube. If you 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:22.760 search for surro got s u r O g At 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:26.480 you'll find the shorts. It's pretty fun. So Barker points 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:29.600 out that Vukatak and his colleagues were initially influenced by 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:34.760 Western animation like Looney Tunes. She mentions this specifically, but 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:38.080 they were also influenced by Czech animation and they steadily 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:40.960 developed their own styles and then as far as this 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:46.480 film goes, Barker cites several key influences. So, first of all, 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:49.600 international sci fi and horror films of the sixties and seventies, 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:52.640 which I think we see that here. Like I think 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:56.920 she mentions Children of the Damned as having an influence. 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:59.960 Can't help but compare it to other sort of practical 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:04.080 affects monsters of the nineteen eighties, like the Thing, but 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:07.680 also he was influenced by nineteen sixties camp by Check, 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:12.560 new wave absurdity, by magical realism. And then also just 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.560 in sort of the visual texture of the film especially, 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:19.960 there's this sense of like the banal, everyday world versus 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:24.240 the colorful, explosive world of fantasy. It's pointed out that 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:28.360 we see Robert he's almost always wearing like really drab tones. 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:33.679 Most of the settings have kind of a drab, not 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:36.400 I wouldn't say cheerless, but a very lived in kind 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:39.920 of feel like it's comfortable, but it is every day, 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:44.160 whereas the world of his imagination is like glowing lights 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:46.560 and strange textures and so forth. 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:50.760 Yes, a theme obviously that he wanted to hit over 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.840 and over in this movie is just the fantastical versus 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:59.240 the mundane, sometimes literally like the fantastic fighting the mundane. Yes. 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:03.760 Now, the other writer on the piece is Milos Maccorik, 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:06.160 who lived nineteen twenty six through two thousand and two, 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:09.359 a check writer who wrote, I believe mostly children's books, 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:21.640 but also screenplays, comics and so forth. Now getting into 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:28.320 the cast playing Robert, we have Zarko Potoznak who lived 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:31.320 nineteen forty six through twenty twenty one. As always, my 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:34.040 apologies if I screw up any of these names here, 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:37.120 but he was a Croatian actor of stage, screen and TV. 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:40.240 He has a small part in the nineteen seventy six 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:45.359 movie The Rat Savior, credited as participant in the Rat Party. 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:48.440 This is a movie that you and I've been interested 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:51.120 in for a while, but if memory serves, it's hard 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:52.000 to find right now. 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:54.480 Yeah, I haven't seen it, but it's on the list 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:56.560 due to its premise, which has something to do with 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:59.600 the man discovering I think he can communicate with like 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:01.720 a culture of sentient rats. 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:07.000 Yeah. So the actor here, I think this. I think 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:12.320 this is his most well known film, both internationally and 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:16.000 in Croatian sentiment and so forth. But I have to 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:19.280 say he's very enjoyable as this kind of bumbling head 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:22.760 in the clouds. Would be sci fi writer with this 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:27.280 amazing supernatural gift. It's quite a fun and funny performance, 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:29.159 but you also you also feel for him, you know, 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:32.639 like you can't help it but sympathize with this character. 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:36.280 I have no idea why I think this, truly, I 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:38.840 don't know what was bringing this to mind, but I 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:42.479 kept seeing him in scenes in the movie as a 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:47.560 lost extra member of the crew of the Nostromo from Alien. 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:51.159 He just looked like a hapless mechanic who would be 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:55.240 working alongside you know, Harry Dean Stanton in Alien and 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:58.600 like wander off and get cocooned. And I don't know 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:00.720 why it brought to and maybe it's like his clothes 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:04.040 kind of seemed sort of like a sci fi jumpsuit 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:06.199 from the Nostromo. I really don't know what it was, 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:07.919 but that just kept coming to mind. 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:11.840 He's very mild mannered, and there's a sense that he's 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:15.000 just doing his job. He's doing the bare minimum. He 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:16.960 would rather not be here. He's not going to put 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:18.800 a lot of effort into things that have to do 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:22.000 with this world, because there is another world inside his 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:24.199 head and that's where most of his focus is. 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:29.320 Yeah, I do think there's an interesting tension in his performance, 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:32.760 which is the fact that the whole movie is about 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:36.560 his creativity. Like he the whole premise is that he 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:41.879 is willing troublesome circumstances into reality with his imagination, and 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:44.920 yet he seems almost completely hapless. You know, he has 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:50.320 extremely little will or volition, Yeah. 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:52.960 Over things in this world or the imagined world as 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:53.400 we'll see. 0:20:53.680 --> 0:20:54.440 Yeah. 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:58.199 Now, Robert has a girlfriend, and this is Beebe, played 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:03.200 by Lucy Zolova born nineteen fifty two, checkborn actress whose 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:06.560 credits include nineteen seventy five's Darling, Are We a Good Match? 0:21:07.560 --> 0:21:11.840 And How To Drown Mister Marassek The Lawyer. These are 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:14.520 not films I'm familiar with that I don't, but but 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:15.919 she's very good in this so I think it's a 0:21:15.920 --> 0:21:21.320 solid performance as his loving but almost done with it girlfriend. 0:21:21.680 --> 0:21:25.200 Yes, she has very little patience for his initial even 0:21:25.240 --> 0:21:29.240 for his writing career, when he's just like talking into 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:31.960 a tape recorder about his ideas for novels. Much less 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:34.680 so when Aliens starts showing up and turning her into 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:40.280 a cube and she's an interesting foil to his Like 0:21:40.320 --> 0:21:45.120 I was just saying, very a drift and non agentic personality. 0:21:45.200 --> 0:21:47.879 She is very like forceful and willful and has a 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:51.680 strong personality and is the one who's like pushing back 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:55.560 against all of this like fantastical stuff from the Arcanic 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:57.399 Galaxy invading their world. 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:03.160 So these are like our two main human real world characters. 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:07.560 But we also have one of Robert's friends who has 0:22:08.480 --> 0:22:12.280 a minor but fun role. This is photo Tony Photo Tony. 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:16.560 Yeah, so I think, wait, his name's just Tony, right, 0:22:16.640 --> 0:22:19.240 but he's a photographer, so his door is a partner. 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:21.560 The door says photo Tony. Yeah. 0:22:21.640 --> 0:22:24.960 Yeah. So my wife watched part of the film with me, 0:22:25.200 --> 0:22:28.520 and she got to see she's a photographer. So I 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:30.040 was like, you got to come see there's a photographer 0:22:30.040 --> 0:22:30.280 in this. 0:22:30.240 --> 0:22:32.879 Movie, and oh yeah, what was her rating? 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:36.480 She had some thoughts about it. Well, she was like, 0:22:36.680 --> 0:22:38.760 he's not gonna get a good shot trying to shoot 0:22:38.760 --> 0:22:41.040 through a window at night and so forth. But I 0:22:41.080 --> 0:22:43.159 was like, you know, I don't think photo Tony is 0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:46.640 necessarily at the top of his game here either. He's 0:22:46.680 --> 0:22:48.040 just more ambitious than Robert. 0:22:49.000 --> 0:22:53.439 Yeah. Yeah, Well, photo Tony seems strange in that his 0:22:53.680 --> 0:22:57.200 ambition seems to be to break through from like tourism 0:22:57.240 --> 0:23:00.879 photography into journalism. Is that how you understood it? 0:23:01.359 --> 0:23:03.639