More: Pink Floyd

Hi,

"More" is, actually, a very fine film, with the problem that it was not filmed with a Hollywood concept of the movies.

What that means is that you hear the music, and the folks in the story don't, but they are imagining it, magically ... so perceptive and psychic the movies are and we're not ... I never heard that much music on a kiss! Or in good sex ... well, there was different music, but that's another story!

Almost all of the music was on a cassette recorder that the girl carried around and played its music ... and that music was Pink Floyd. The "natural-ness" with which this is done is the valuable and beautiful part of this film ... it is very smooth, and it's just there, and you or I could/would do EXACTLY the same thing, and do so, when we go to the beach or what not ... (we use CD's these days or iPods - but you get the drift!) ... to enjoy something that we like.

The other side of the film is something that does not go well in America, because of the generic idea that dope is bad, and tripping is worse! And the religious somebody's are trying hard to ensure that you do not do it, or see it, or enjoy your young days in that manner, regardless ... you have to conform to an idea ... and that film, was NOTHING about conforming to anything!

The shooting, is very "stoney", and done with handheld cameras, that eventually, some 25 years later, became the pattern and the norm for many a film from China (Kar Wai) and other places, and it was never given the credit and appreciation that it deserved. Almost all the "trips" are from the girl's point of view and the camera seems to wonder, no different than how your head and mind would do in these circumstances. This point, is TOTALLY lost in many a discussion on this film, and this is one of the biggest criticisms about it ... most people are afraid of the drugs and "internal" films, and would rather sit "outside" and watch ... watching is a very Hollywood tradition similar to the peep show ... you are not involved, and that is safer for you ... !!!

I like the PERSONAL touches in this film. It is very special in that way, and it was just sad that Barbet Schroeder lost this touch later and gave in to the Hollywood style and conventions, and even in his next film, also with Pink Floyd music, the way the soundtrack was used, had absolutely nothing to do with the story and the film itself, except for a minute with a tribe sounds in it. The music in this film, unlike MORE, is incidental, and not a part of the film, and we're supposed to IMAGINE its use and feeling?

It also is, a very strong sign, of the "progressive" feeling and attitude in so many other arts, and you must see and aappreciate that. This is the same attitude that a lot of bands were taking on, and with, their music, changing the concepts, the ideas and the resolution into something different and experientially totally out of sorts with the stuff that is known ... in many ways, even "WOODSTOCK" is about that ... but we don't see that ... we just see it as a drunk and stoned generation with some music!

And we miss the point and what it was all about!

It's a great film.

The music, is beautifully used, although I have not studied in detail which song is used where, mostly because I never felt it necessary ... if I'm to take some mescaline, I sincerely doubt that it is important which piece of music you choose ... you already like them all or you would not be listening to them, anyway! As a whole, the album is disjointed without the film, but it makes better sense with the film at hand, than otherwise. You do not judge the choice of songs, when she takes a trip! This is what she is augmenting her experience with in HER trip ... and this is the part of the film that is super special as is the music.