"eXistenZ" (1999) is a film by some Hungarian directors and it twists reality all around by confounding altogether the boundaries for a virtual reality game. It's also the only hot sci-fi flick I ever saw as Jennifer Jason Leigh does an exceptional job as the star programmer and her talents go well beyond programming. Jude Law is cool as her unwilling apprentice. And then it gets twisted. Be warned of a full plot review in the WIKI (eXistenZ).
Going into it I was expecting from sci-fi about gaming something like "Tron" in which there are lots of colors and flash bang but it doesn't mean very much. This one goes way past that as it focuses on the boundaries of real and imagined realities. That they managed to make it quite sexy is novel but that doesn't diminish the strength of the content.
There's been substantial research lately into the physical activity within the brain when it's under the influence of psychedelics, particularly psilocybin (i.e. magic mushrooms). During the course of the drug, scientists observed which areas of the brain were active and this was giving them awareness of an opening between dream activity and consciousness. (I don't have a link to the article at present but it was an interesting bit.)
Reality is a fluid thing and we aren't even sure of simple things. We agree something looks red but we have no idea if we see the same red. We have seen things before that were described as red. This one looks like that so it must be red. But it isn't red. The guy is color blind and it appears as grey. He knows it is red because it's about the same temperature as other things that were described as red. Even a simple reality like that is not constant in appearance even though the constancy is agreed and taken for granted.
Ownership is a nebulous aspect of reality. It seems so rock solid but there is one thing for sure: either it won't last or you won't. No-one really keeps anything but we like the feeling that we do.
Those kinds of things can play first year philosophy all night long but the most interesting aspect of the boundaries of reality is with regard to the dream state. Psychedelics open it and then primal perceptions become a part of the agreed, albeit shaky, traditional reality ... and they change things quite a bit. Of course trees can sing, you were just never patient enough to listen. Perhaps you dismiss that as trivial but that dismissal is part of a larger close-mindedness to something that needs more understanding rather than less.
The movie pursues these types of things in a smooth and elegant way. I rate it high enough to recommend it to Cat (that's the highest rating as she is highly-discerning when it comes to cinema).
Going into it I was expecting from sci-fi about gaming something like "Tron" in which there are lots of colors and flash bang but it doesn't mean very much. This one goes way past that as it focuses on the boundaries of real and imagined realities. That they managed to make it quite sexy is novel but that doesn't diminish the strength of the content.
There's been substantial research lately into the physical activity within the brain when it's under the influence of psychedelics, particularly psilocybin (i.e. magic mushrooms). During the course of the drug, scientists observed which areas of the brain were active and this was giving them awareness of an opening between dream activity and consciousness. (I don't have a link to the article at present but it was an interesting bit.)
Reality is a fluid thing and we aren't even sure of simple things. We agree something looks red but we have no idea if we see the same red. We have seen things before that were described as red. This one looks like that so it must be red. But it isn't red. The guy is color blind and it appears as grey. He knows it is red because it's about the same temperature as other things that were described as red. Even a simple reality like that is not constant in appearance even though the constancy is agreed and taken for granted.
Ownership is a nebulous aspect of reality. It seems so rock solid but there is one thing for sure: either it won't last or you won't. No-one really keeps anything but we like the feeling that we do.
Those kinds of things can play first year philosophy all night long but the most interesting aspect of the boundaries of reality is with regard to the dream state. Psychedelics open it and then primal perceptions become a part of the agreed, albeit shaky, traditional reality ... and they change things quite a bit. Of course trees can sing, you were just never patient enough to listen. Perhaps you dismiss that as trivial but that dismissal is part of a larger close-mindedness to something that needs more understanding rather than less.
The movie pursues these types of things in a smooth and elegant way. I rate it high enough to recommend it to Cat (that's the highest rating as she is highly-discerning when it comes to cinema).
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