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In Episode 76 of the CriterionCast, Ryan Gallagher, James McCormick, Travis George, and Moises Chiullan discuss Terry Gilliam’s Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. They also discuss the week’s Criterion Collection related news, and new releases.
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Next week on the podcast we’ll be covering Guillermo Del Toro’s Cronos.
Shownotes:
00:00 ‘“ 00:30 ‘“ Sneak Previews, Fatboy Roberts
00:30 ‘“ 01:36 ‘“ Introductions
News:
01:37 ‘“ 07:06 ‘“ Cannes 2011 Line-up, 3-D Hara-kiri
07:07 ‘“ 10:21 ‘“ Skidoo on DVD
10:22 ‘“ 12:16 ‘“ Red State is in the Black
12:17 ‘“ 23:23 ‘“ July 2011 Criterion Collection New Releases Announced
Criterion Collection New Release Discussion:
23:24 ‘“ 30:23 ‘“ Criterion Collection New Releases ‘“ Sweetie, Kes, Blow Out, Hulu / Criterion discussion
Main Discussion:
30:24 – 32:15 – Clip from Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
32:16 ‘“ 1:19:21 ‘“ Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas discussion
Wrap Up:
1:19:22 ‘“ 1:21:255 ‘“ Credits
1:21:26 ‘“ 1:21:56 ‘“ Meatlocker ‘“ Fatboy Roberts
I don’t always demand that a movie have a traditional plot (Richard Linklater is one of my favorite filmmakers and he makes some of the most meandering narratives imaginable). But after watching ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’, I turned to the people with whom I was watching the film and remarked “Was that supposed to have a point?” The film like the characters careens from one situation from another aimlessly. By the end of the film the only thing that the script gives to create some artificial tension is that Raoul has a short time to catch a plane. The closest thing that the film has to theme is read in voice over, but by the end of the film it doesn’t feel as if the film deserved its coda. The film seems less interested in exploring the physical and psychological toll of mind altering substances then it is with special effects and broad comedy. On this episode I didn’t really hear any kind examination of the reason why the film exists. The closest thing to an examination of the film in this episode was a description of the visual style.
Great point. I’ll try to bring this up on the next Disc 2, so we can dig into that a little more.