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**Duty** · April 23, 2021 at 12:34 pm

The Fisher King is wonderful too and all too often underrated IMO. RIP Robin Williams.

zwanzig · April 23, 2021 at 12:47 pm

(April 23, 2021 at 12:34 pm)Lawz Wrote: The Fisher King is wonderful too and all too often underrated IMO. RIP Robin Williams.

Seriously! It is! It's a good movie to show people because not a lot of folks have seen it. It has so much heart and humor but it's not a comedy. I briefly got interested in The Fisher King story after watching it.

**Rev. Rye** · (This post was last modified: April 24, 2021 at 12:14 am by Rev. Rye.)

And, while it's not exactly a film, are you familiar with The Prisoner? It's a 17-episode sci-fi series set mostly in a Village where a former spy is imprisoned, and it's very strange. How strange? Well, here's a (spoiler-free) clip from the final episode:

The rest of the series is only slightly less strange than that.

For what it's worth, it's on Amazon Prime, Tubi, and you can even find every episode in Blu-Ray quality on YouTube, and I know this because I just did. The only real drawback is that they use the Original UK Broadcast Order (hereinafter referred to as OBO), which is... very non-linear to say the least. Here's the order I've worked out (OBO number in parentheses):

Arrival (1)
Free For All (4)
Dance of the Dead (8)
Checkmate (9)
The Chimes of Big Ben (2)
The Schizoid Man (5)
Many Happy Returns (7)
It's Your Funeral (11)
The General (6)
A, B, and C (3)
Change of Mind (12)
Hammer into Anvil (10)
Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling (13)
Living in Harmony (14)
The Girl Who Was Death (15)
Once Upon a Time (16)
Fall Out (17)

And if you want to know my rationale, unhide this:

Everyone agrees that "Arrival" is the first episode, and that "Once Upon a Time" and "Fall Out" are the last two episodes. Beyond that, in terms of official episode order, all we have are the OBO, and a list of seven episodes that star/creator Patrick McGoohan considers the episodes that truly mattered. This list consists of the first 5 episodes of my list plus the last two. That said, I have heard versions of that same list that swap "Free for All" and "Dance of the Dead," but, as far as I've been able to figure out, this is the preferred order, and because I tend towards authorial intent in cases like these, McGoohan's first 5 are my first five.

But the next couple episodes is trickier. In "The Schizoid Man" and "Many Happy Returns," Number 6 is still trying to escape from The Village like it's a normal prison, something that is rare in the later episodes of the series. And I think it's safe to say that after the ending of "Many Happy Returns," it only makes sense he'd stop trying. But the later episodes involve him trying another track: turning the tables on the episode's Number Two. Aside from the three episodes featuring Leo McKer, there's two episodes with Colin Gordon as Number Two: "The General" and "A, B, and C." In the former episode, Gordon is very confident and authoritative, and in the latter, he's... not. So, it makes sense to assume that these two episodes, in that order, are Number 6 managing to break him down over the span of two episodes. "Change of Mind" continues with this track, with him eventually convincing the Village Council to expel the episode's Number Two. By "Hammer into Anvil," Number 6 manages to break The Village's most brutal Number Two while barely even doing much more than using an Aldis lamp to relay a nursery rhyme. Evidently, he's getting more and more dangerous. However, "It's Your Funeral" doesn't fall into this pattern, since Number 6 is neither escaping nor turning the tables on Number 2, and, frankly, it makes sense that a transitional episode like this appear not only between these two patterns, but in the exact mid-point of the series.

Episodes 13-15 are the hardest to place in the context of any arc. I call these three the Bizarro episodes, since they're so far removed from the arcs formed by the previous twelve and final two episodes (to the point where they put Number Six in what basically amount to alternate realities) that it's bizarre, even by the standards of the series. Frankly, if all three were removed from the episode, we'd lose very little (except maybe Alexis Kenner's role in "Living in Harmony" foreshadowing his character in "Fall Out" or how perfectly the ending of "The Girl Who Was Death," with Number Two so frustrated by how Number Six turned these repeated assassination attempts into a fucking bedtime story, feels like a cliffhanger for the drastic Degree Absolute procedure that takes up most of "Once Upon a Time.") Indeed, McGoohan barely even appears in "Do Not Forsake Me" (for Ice Station Zebra-related reasons.) For lack of a better point, I'm placing these episodes between "Hammer and Anvil" and "Once Upon a Time." Most fans who quibble on episode orders do this (and in that order), and I'm no exception. If I was more invested in this trio of episodes, I could find different places for them, but I'm content to treat them as The Village trying a softer touch than Patrick Cargill's Number Two. And, as mentioned before, there's ZERO debate about whether or not "Once Upon a Time" and "Fall Out" fit as anything but the last two episodes.

Peebothuhlu · April 24, 2021 at 6:14 am

At work.

You seek 'Japanese' and 'Surreal' akin to "The Ring"?

"Alice in Borderland" Only one shortish season so far that I've seen.

Also, I've seen the original "The Ring." Yup that once was enough. Amazing 'Creep' factor aling with its horror.

zwanzig · April 24, 2021 at 10:02 am

A couple of directors I really like in this surreal/odd category are Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead.

Resolution (2012) It's just such a weird...strange concept. The Watcher who supernaturally uses recorded media on these two guys out in the middle of the desert on this old Native Reserve. This film in a duo of films, explores one man's obsession with understanding the machinations of this "thing" (is it a creature? Is it a being?) and what that means for not only his own life purpose but also the impact of reality itself. It also explores a little bit the flaw in knowing your future, even just a few moments ahead, and how this can either spur you to action or paralyze you. It comes off as dirt cheap, very simple, yet does so well capturing that dream-like bizarreness.

The Endless (2017) This is the sequel to Resolution but both films can stand on their own. The only thing they really share is a world and we see the events and characters in Resolution briefly in The Endless(but even not knowing who they are, it doesn't hurt the film or the concepts they're trying to portray). It's the same Watcher concept in this desert Native Reserve except now there's a cult that lives out there and seems to worship this thing. This also explains some of the time aspects and the "bubbles" of captured time with people trapped within them. Again, there's this hidden story and lore that tickles the imagination. I felt like Resolution explained a bit more about this creature/being that records and takes pictures while The Endless explained different ways people interact within these time bubbles. But neither film offers any complete answers and leaves a lot of mystery unfulfilled.

Spring (2014) This guy traveling in Italy trying to find himself and mourn the death of his mother meets this enigmatic and beautiful young woman. It feels like a typical European traveler romance for the first 20-30 minutes. Then you start to realize, there's something strange about this woman he's met. This movie felt incomplete and rushed and I found the concept they were trying to explore with this woman, Louise, was a lot less captivating or interesting than other concepts they've explored.

Synchronic (2019) Probably the most polished and high-profile of their films(starring Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan who have been in big Blockbusters) yet it is the least interesting of their movies. It's a weird concept, a drug that pushes you back in time (for only 7 minutes each time) and different moments in time depending on where you're standing. But they didn't do anything with it. The one guy's daughter gets stuck in the past and the other guy uses the drug to try to find her. It feels sloppy and simple, like they simply threw the idea together. Also, there was a bit of a hiccup narratively where for the first 20 minutes of the film, there is no story. We're dropped into this world where drugs have been made legal and these two guys are paramedics showing up in places where people have been killed by things in the past by taking this time drug. But they don't understand that until later. But Jamie Dornan is not charming and has no chemistry with anyone I've seen him on screen with. He's got a "quiet guy brooding" energy. So, for the first 20 minutes, you're watching these paramedics do their job and it was very fly on the wall, watching Dornan murmur and do things while Mackie silently emotes because he's the main character and supposed to be discovering this drug and doing the time thing. It was essentially waiting for the story to start because it felt directionless in the beginning.

Synchronic and Spring aren't really on my list but since I was going to talk about Benson and Moorehead, I thought I'd talk about all of their work that I've seen.

Reforged · April 24, 2021 at 10:49 am

Mandy.

vulcanlogician · April 24, 2021 at 11:20 am

The Block Island Sound is on Netflix rn. It's pretty good.

zwanzig · April 24, 2021 at 11:22 am

(April 24, 2021 at 10:49 am)Reforged Wrote: Mandy.

I have not seen it yet. But it sounds right up my alley. Another weird Nick Cage one that I have been hearing buzz about is Willy's Wonderland. I might watch them both fairly soon. Make a Cage day of it.

**arewethereyet** · April 24, 2021 at 11:24 am

(April 24, 2021 at 11:22 am)Five Wrote:
(April 24, 2021 at 10:49 am)Reforged Wrote: Mandy.

I have not seen it yet. But it sounds right up my alley. Another weird Nick Cage one that I have been hearing buzz about is Willy's Wonderland. I might watch them both fairly soon. Make a Cage day of it.

Bold mine -
That sounds absolutely torturous.

But then the movies mentioned in this thread all sort of make my eye twitch...even with just the titles and short little blurbs about them.

zwanzig · April 24, 2021 at 11:30 am

(April 24, 2021 at 11:20 am)vulcanlogician Wrote: The Block Island Sound is on Netflix rn. It's pretty good.

I'll give it a look! The blurb I read said that it's best to go into it without knowing too much beforehand, so, I'll stop reading about it and just give it a watch.

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