"Your tests suggest that you have remarkable talents."
June 20, 2024 1:34 AM Subscribe
"And then I played with some other things." Conelrad Adjacent digs into the history of the classic film-within-a-film in The Parallax View (1974). (previously)
I had somehow never heard of this film, but it sounds amazing - thanks for posting!
posted by Old Kentucky Shark at 6:38 AM on June 20 [1 favorite]
posted by Old Kentucky Shark at 6:38 AM on June 20 [1 favorite]
I discovered The Parallax View as a bored teenager (way back when) flicking through the TV dial and suddenly landing directly into the middle of the TEST FILM. As random incursions of apparent significance go, I'd rate it close to 10.0. At first, I thought I was watching a commercial, I guess, except it kept going on and on, and no product ever got placed beyond ... well, whatever the Parallax corp was selling to its potential assassins. So, of course, I kept watching to the end even as nothing made sense. But I was a 70s teenager, I was used to such stuff.
And then, it being a time before video rentals (ie: you either caught a movie in the theatre when it was new, or on TV one of the few times it aired, often no more than once or twice) it was at least a decade before I finally saw the rest of The Parallax View (a video rental). Which was anticlimactic. How could it not be? How could the whole of any Hollywood movie starring Warren Beatty possibly stand up to that weird part in the middle?
posted by philip-random at 8:42 AM on June 20 [2 favorites]
And then, it being a time before video rentals (ie: you either caught a movie in the theatre when it was new, or on TV one of the few times it aired, often no more than once or twice) it was at least a decade before I finally saw the rest of The Parallax View (a video rental). Which was anticlimactic. How could it not be? How could the whole of any Hollywood movie starring Warren Beatty possibly stand up to that weird part in the middle?
posted by philip-random at 8:42 AM on June 20 [2 favorites]
That segment in the film is amazing. I can think of some films that involve a similarly engrossing montage or subfilm, albeit for different purposes and with different aesthetics:
Sisters
Easy Rider
Flatliners
Lalaland
posted by in_lieu_of_fiction at 10:47 AM on June 20 [2 favorites]
Sisters
Easy Rider
Flatliners
Lalaland
posted by in_lieu_of_fiction at 10:47 AM on June 20 [2 favorites]
That's a great read; thanks! I'm glad they included Soylent Green and A Clockwork Orange as comparisons/contrasts.
posted by queensissy at 12:22 PM on June 20 [1 favorite]
posted by queensissy at 12:22 PM on June 20 [1 favorite]
Yea, seeing this randomly on TV when I was young was really something! Rest of the film pales by comparison.
posted by ovvl at 3:09 PM on June 20
posted by ovvl at 3:09 PM on June 20
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posted by HearHere at 3:53 AM on June 20