Realive

So, a lot of people went into this movie expecting to be dazzled by hi- tech conceptualizations of the future, and were disappointed. That's understandable. The tech is a background at best, although every character does seem to blend seamlessly with it. It is a background that is tastefully crafted, realistically employed and never flickers.

To add insult to injury, however, the 2 hour hypotech is stuffed with sentimentality and philosophy, rather than action and sex, as many sci- fi's are. For most people, action and sex are a far better filler than the heartfelt musings of a struggling soul, regardless of the context.

For those of us not seeking to escape to the future, we were treated to a salient, cerebral wine-tasting, of sorts...and a sobering one at that. The film seems to offer up so many spiritual, cultural messages, from so many vantage points, that it's impossible to label one bottle and drink from it. For the single-minded it's a mess. For others, it's an awakening to new flavors of suffering, and a perversion of our taste buds. Some things, once sweet on our tongue, now stain with an aftertaste. Other drinks, like death, may now crisply tinkle in the glass and repel us a bit less.

All I'm saying is that this film is more art than entertainment. Some people drink wine to get drunk and have sex. Others sip it carefully to explore its variety. Realive is certainly a film for the sipping class.