21-87 (1964)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Arthur Lipsett

Genre:

Short

Runtime:

10 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Company:

National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

Movie Connections:

Referenced in THX 1138 (1971)

Signs of mental illness back in 1964?

This film was made by Arthur Lipsett back in 1964 and it was seen by some as a terrific and artsy film. Two decades later, Lipsett (who had a long history of bizarre behavior--exhibiting behaviors that might be consistent with a diagnosis of schizophrenia) killed himself. Instead of "genuis", I see this film as the work of a man who already is showing signs of depression and weirdness. The film is mostly random and semi-random images (mostly from New York) of people doing things as you occasionally hear narration about how life sucks. I know it's all supposed to be symbolic of the pointlessness of life, but you wonder if instead of praising this very bad film that people had encouraged him to get therapy he might just be alive today. It all looks to me like a cry for help--not art or even a film worth most people's time.

F Gwynplaine MacIntyre sounds a bit harsh in his review, but I, too, was NOT impressed by this wretched film.