Un Chien Andalou... 0:18 The Red Shoes... 2:11 2001: A Space Odyssey... 3:44 Enter the Void... 6:05 Dumbo... 7:27 Mulholland Drive... 8:28 Climax... 9:45 Koyaanisqatsi... 12:11 The Holy Mountain... 14:26 House (1977)... 16:54 Apocalypse Now... 18:02 Mandy... 19:59
There are a number of very unique late-1960s psychedelic movies made during the peak of the psychedelic era in addition to the much-flaunted "Easy Rider", such as "Psych Out" and "The Trip" and "Wild in the Streets" as well as the Monkees' "Head". Russ Meyer's "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" is also a legendary cult psychedelic movie. There's also the Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour".
Most Fellini films are pretty trippy, especially Juliet of the Spirits, that whole movie feels like one big hallucination. Also Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and of course Easy Rider.
The trippiest kind of films for me are a genre of film from 60s-70s called "structural films" that try to break the very conventions of filmmaking. The type of films we often see, even if they tell "weird" stories, are conventionally made. The non-linear timeline in Mulholland Drive, the dream-like ballet sequence in The Red Shoes, etc., are all relatively "conventional" devices. But "structural films" aim to abandon any kind of convention that the viewers are used to seeing, and yet still manage to communicate their meaning, whatever it is, to the viewers. One notable example is "Zorns Lemma" from 1970. It shows each of the 26 English alphabets on the screen every second. Then it shows them again, but with one alphabet replaced with a short video clip. The process is repeated until all alphabets are replaced, and the full video clip is revealed. Another example is "Nostalgia" from 1971, in which you see a series of photographs accompanied by a narration, with the narrator always describing the next photo instead of the photo you are seeing. These films are disorienting, eschew any established film devices, depict unrecognizable time and space, and yet are often very deceptively simple. The two films I mentioned (and more) are found in the Criterion box set of Hollis Frampton's films. These films are unknown to most audiences because they are experimental in nature and are often not meant for public exhibition. But they are innovative enough that film buffs (like me) have sought them out and admired them. Among the films you mentioned, only "Un chien andalou" were made with the express goal of breaking filmmaking conventions. The rest are fairly conventional creations that happen to have narratives with some weirdness in them. Commericial films can't be too unconventional, or they will put off the audience and won't make money. The weirdest films can only be made in purely experimental settings where the filmmakers don't have to worry about box office or even critical acclaim.
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - The Fountain - Midsommar (especially towards the end) - Blueberry (has a nice ayahuasca scene in it) - The Salton Sea (to a certain extent) - The Wizard of Oz - Alice in Wonderland Edit: Taking Woodstock also came to mind. It has this nice scene where the entire audience becomes one big wave with all the people as particles. At the time it made a big impression on me.
I saw Koyaanisqatsi on a six story screen with Philip Glass and his Ensemble performing the soundtrack live on the stage below. It was absolutely mind blowing. I was on another plane of existence by the end of the screening. I just walked out of there and the entire world seemed different; unreal. It changed me forever. So, yeah, definitely a psychedelic movie.
This was a great video idea whoever suggested it. I like when you do these types of videos almost as much as your reviews because we get your pov on more than a few movies when you do these.
I don't think anyone has mentioned "Casino Royale" (1967)... an extremely fun and trippy parody of Agent 007 that is better and just more entertaining than most of the 'serious' Bond flicks. There were plenty of Psych-sploitation films being produced at the time (The Trip, Psych-Out - both of which I really like) but this one is a cut above, at least in terms of the production's quality. The sets created for the film are lavishly psychedelic! Definitely an under-appreciated gem of a movie from the Psychedelic era.
Midnight Cowboy has moments. The party scene with Old Man Willow. Some of the flashback sequences maybe. And just the fact that it landed right around that era of psychedelic rock.
I have never taken drugs (apart from medicine). I've never been drunk, but I do drink. I value clarity. And indeed for me everything is meaningful. But I've also learned to see the dreamlike within reality. Nevertheless I do enjoy psychedelic films, though I generally doubt the philosophy of ecstatic experience. Time is quite important to me. But I see psychedelia in all of its forms as a quest for the eternal. Though I believe that the bridge is washed out that way. Having said that my favorite psychedelic is a very dark and also strangely funny Polish film by Wojciech Has, The Saragossa Manuscript. It features stories within stories and dreams with dreams. There is one breathtaking moment where you realize that you are within about four layers of stories being told at once. Or then again maybe it is just very dark Polish Gothicism. I watch your reviews because they other to my own experiences. Thanks.
Everybody hallucinates. When you go to sleep, dmt gets released in your brain. DMt is so basic on chemical but it is so very profound and mysterious to this day. People have deja vus. I don't know if you ever had one.
I was around ten or eleven when I watched "Head" (1968) starring The Monkees, on TV back in the 1970's (a fat, heavy television set with dials and no cable or streaming). Half of it flew over my noggin. Certain images got burned into my psyche. Quite a trip. Today as an adult of 54 I see its messages, but that kid back then was sure perplexed. I was almost scared to open a medicine cabinet after that. 😄
I saw Altered States as a kid and it resonated with me right away. It's weird how some people are attracted to psychedelic imagery and altered states long before they even get access to drugs. : ) Apparently Albert Hoffman had a psychedelic experience in the woods as a child and then he goes on to be the discoverer of LSD..
ALTERED STATES really got trashed on its theatrical release---by critics especially. It's a favorite, and I was happy that Ken lived long enough for me to work with him and tell him how much I admired it (and Jim Cameron at the time as well). I think it takes time for certain "special" films to bring people into them. .
I will always remember seeing Aronofsky's The Fountain on Black Friday 2006 at the Dundee Theater in Omaha, NE. That film transported me with its control of three parallel timelines, the haunting and intense score by Clint Mansell (aided by the Kronos Quartet and Mogwai), and beautiful cinematography. The climactic sequence set to "Death is the Road to Awe" for me is the definition of a psychedelic trip in how it transmitted the concept of just what the quest for immortality really means in such an exhilarating blast of light.
If you take mushrooms during a hike in the outdoors...then Nature itself becomes a psychedelic movie. One time I even went skiing while tripping....mountains melted, and I skied the best I ever had that day lol. It was easy to see trails and routes down the slope.
One of Lucio Fulci masterpieces “A Lizard in A Woman’s Skin”. In My opinion, the most important psychedelic thriller of all time. Even the editing has a psychedelic rhythm and every dream scene is a piece of the purest video art. It’s incredible. Anteaters, It must be seen in the most "uncut" version that is found
Version available*, cause this movie has been cut in 4 different mutilate version since 1972. European version has less scene of violence, american versions has more cuts when it comes to sex scenes
There's several psychedelic films I love, but one that really sticks into my mind is Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. Admittedly, I'm not 100 percent okay with the subject matter. But the level of filmmaking, the twist and turns in the film, and just the overall dream like imagery really gave me a new perspective of the transition to womanhood.
'Koyaanisqatsi' always does it for me, too. I have seen it several times on a big screen, usually by myself because hardly anyone I know gets it. It's one of those films that makes you feel small and insignificant in the grand scheme of the cosmos and yet part of some strangely beautiful earthly magic. It's almost like I feel the planet moving beneath my feet, when I watch it. I get a similar feeling when listening to certain 'Stars of the Lid' (drone) music tracks 'Ashes & Snow' by Canadian artist Gregory Colbert is another film that also has that mystical feeling to it but includes a few words (narrated by Laurence Fishburne in the English version) which accompany the wonderful, hypnotic, meditative music score, co-written by Lisa Gerrard of 'Dead Can Dance' & 'Gladiator' soundtrack fame Both films are often, unfairly labelled 'pretentious' but at their heart, I feel their humanity
If you appreciated "Koyaanisqatsi", "Samsara" by the same film company is even more psychedelic. It is a technical wonder. Well worth a future review if this is your forte.
A few suggestions for the general "psychedelic/surreal genre: 81/2, JULIET AND THE SPIRITS, CITY OF WOMEN (all Fellini), JACOB'S LADDER, PHASE 4, A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, NAKED LUNCH, ORPHEUS, TESTAMENT OF ORPHEUS, THE CELL, TRAINSPOTTING, LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD, GHOST IN THE SHELL (1&), WINGS OF DESIRE, 200 HOTELS (Zappa's film), HEAD (Rafelson's Monkees film), SPIRITED AWAY, most all of Charlie Kauffman's films, ANDROMEDIA (Japanese), JOGAKU (same), OCULUS, DON'T LOOK NOW, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, ...And have to say that a few "straight" SF and Horror films, like FANTASTIC VOYAGE and MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH sure delve into "inner space" in druggy-indirect ways. The climax of Corman's gothic-horror-melodrama, THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM also dissolves into early 60's "psychedelics". Ok, if I jot any more titles I'll overstay my "welcome" more than I have.;-7
Check out the french film Renegade/Blueberry. It's called renegade in the usa and blueberry everywhere else. The director went on over 100 shamanistic voyages for research. He even cast his shaman in the movie. One of my favorites. It's a psychedelic western with amazing effects and audio!
Psychedelic could be part and parcel to surrealist cinema, avant-garde, and experimental film, a lot to discover in these areas, first one I think back on if you haven't watched it is The Color of Pomegranates (1969), before Holy Mountain which was 73; any early Kenneth Anger short; Chris Marker; Maya Deren and Guy Maddin for that surreal, hypnotic trance feeling (like Bela Tarr b/w trance like pacing)...almost endurance testing films. I know Gaspar loved Jigoku (1960) and it's wild visual style; Matthew Barney's film/video work and any of the early video artists pioneers (some on video data bank site)...crazy random wild frantic trippy visuals to be found there.
Koyaanisqatsi changed my view on film. It was the most mind-blowing experience. Has anyone seen Blind Beast? 1960s Japanese psycho-sexual drama that's pretty psychedelic and pretty disturbing, but an amazing film? I was also gonna mention late period Fellini, dreamy confusion
A lot of my favorite psychedelic movies were featured on here but here are some more of my favorites: Beyond the Black Rainbow Suspiria (both 1977 and 2018) Under the Skin Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Annihilation Bliss Angel’s Egg Repo Man Let the Corpses Tan Cam The Dance of Reality MindGame Tokyo Gore Police Liquid Sky Knife+Heart Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives High Life Paprika
Wow you have two out of my three: "2001" and "Koyaanisqatsi". The only one you're missing is "Yellow Submarine"! Supremely psychedelic! Just saw an interview with Jeff Goldblum in which he talked about taking acid and going to a double feature of Yellow Submarine and Satyricon! Now there's a double feature for the ages!
Good Time. I wouldn't call it "psychedelic" necessarily (although it certainly has it's moments) but adrenaline can very much be an intense druggy experience where everything feels life or death and while it's certainly scary there's a small part of you which kind of likes that feeling.
Great job! I was happy to hear to Holy Mountain, 2001, and Andalusion Dog were mentioned. I really like her analysis of films. But she ever tell us her name?
Some great films mentioned here. I would add (and suggest viewing): What A Way To Go! (1964-Shirley Maclaine), Naked Lunch (Cronenberg/Burroughs), and Casino Royale (1967-Peter Sellers, etc.).
Fun Discussion,. I would really love to see you tackle Inland Empire. Usually described as Lynch's most impenatrable film, I think there is a through- line in it that you pick up on with multiple viewings , Astounding really. I think it is also key to view and consider More Things That Happened , a collection of deleted scenes that broaden the narrative
Stay is more than just a psychological drama about a car crash it is actually kinda psychedelic at times how it represents and depicts aspects of head trauma and how someones psyche may work after being put in a damaged/displaced state... TBI is a very real occurrence and is something people don't think about or want to think about because it's unlike anything that can be endured
Easy Rider is extremely trippy in certain sequences for sure (not just the acid scene). Not my favorite film in that genre, but it's clear that Dennis Hopper was no stranger to Hoffman's problem child.
A few thoughts,,, Leni Riefenstahl starred in a movie called The Holy Mountain, directed by Arnold Fanck. Being early 20th century Germans, they had a different perspective of the concept of a holy mountain, but it's no less trippy, and worth a look. The first time I saw Apocalypse Now was in 1979. I took some acid, and walked five miles through a Wisconsin blizzard to sit in an empty theater. Imagine enduring the physical difficulty of freezing winds and knee deep snow with a head full of acid to find Marlon Brando staring at you saying "You must make a friend of horror and moral terror, otherwise, they are enemies to be feared." But the message I got was that Col. Kurtz was, at the core of his being, a warrior. This was his nature and purpose. This was complicated by two conflicting facts. The first was that he was a moral man who found himself face to face with a level of savagery he was unprepared to accept. The second was that he was in a position where he was forced to take orders from people he knew were cowards, liars, and hypocrites. This caused his sanity to snap; and his only course of action was to break away from everything and forge his own path in life - and Capt. Willard found that he must do the same. This was the lesson: find your nature and purpose, and do it regardless of the cost.
Wow, deepfocuslens is gorgeous, extremely intelligent and well-educated, and a movie-lover as well! Also, her movie reviews are informative and very thought-provoking. Heck yeah, I'm subscribing! :-)
Of course Koyaanisqatsi had to be mentioned. It's the one film that (as a critic) I can never score or rank because it's a different form of art than filmmaking is. It doesn't follow ANY rules and therefore can't be judged by them. What else in terms of psychedelia ....? Solaris (1972) still stumps me. Even when I start into it with the resolve to pick up on things, I can never come out the other other side with anything to show for it. Tarkovsky's style is truly drug-like. Pink Floyd The Wall (1982) can be so entertaining in its stream of consciousness. It doesn't have the deep meaning it thinks it does, but that ends up leaving room for the audience to drive along its loopy path and admire a vortex-like beauty. Spirited Away (2001) is sensory overload. Anything by Hayao Miyazaki is visually ambitious, but this one shows much more than others the variety he crafts in his worlds. It sucks you in and you surrender to its unique logic. The Room (2003) is psychedelic at a more base level .. that being Tommy Wiseau's acting. You can't watch it and not trip balls. If music videos count, the Hiro Murai-helmed This Is America (2018) is political surrealism at its peak.
A buddy of mine and I split a Frisbee full of shrooms and watched BLADE RUNNER. The neon signs were literally reaching out off the screen over us. The Vangelis, the city. Whoah. Then we watched LEGEND, and that was even more trippy. Heh heh. Guess that doesn't count, though. ALTERED STATES is pretty amazing. Also, ANIMA MUNDI. Knock knock: Who's there? Knock knock: Who's there? Knock knock: Who's there? Philip Glass.
Touching upon the psychedelic experience: The Saragossa Manuscript. 2001: A Space Odyssey. Fellini Satyricon. Picnic at Hanging Rock. Heart of Glass. Apocalypse Now. The Tin Drum. Quest for Fire. A Zed & Two Noughts. Koyaanisqatsi. Baraka. Survive Style 5+. Three Businessmen. Love Is the Devil. Being John Malkovich. Songs from the Second Floor (really, all later Roy Andersson). The Sea that Thinks. Paprika. The Fountain. Enter the Void. Voyage of Time: Life's Journey. But best of all, David Attenborough narrated nature documentaries. Everyone should have one or all of these to catch them and cradle them through trips.
I know it's too late, but I forgot about "Stalker" of Andrew Tarkovsky. I don't really know why I love this film, there's no action scene but philosophical dialogs and beatiful cinema operator's work, and soundtrack of Edward Artemiev is fantastic, actors is very impressive too
The short films of Kenneth Anger are definitely a weird trip. Also a lot of Dario Argento films especially the early ones are really psychedelic ( in fact a lot of Italian giallo films are quite psychedelic. I recently saw the film Phase IV directed by the great graphic designer Saul Bass. Definitely would be great high.
I think Fellini's Satyricon and Pasolini's 'Trilogy Of Life' are very psychedelic. Comparable with 2001 but rather than seeing the future/space as the forum of otherness/innerness, they explore the breadth of human psychic potential through perspectives from the past. In the former case, the totally alien experience of ancient Rome and the latter, the medieval.
Agree with a lot of these and need to look up a few of them but to cover some anime: Angel's Egg from Mamoru Oshii and Paprika (really any Satoshi Kon except Tokyo Godfathers). O and also A Scanner Darkly with the rotoscope animation and story about losing your mind from drugs
Trainspotting is really incredible I think because although it's just about Scottish heroin addicts, it has some really great moments. Renton's withdrawal scene is uncomfortable but I think it offers some kind of small epiphany about the consequences of their actions. In the end though, Renton is still just the person that he tried not to be in the middle of the film and that he's still just the same opportunist as he always was as much as he tried not to be. It also has one of the best soundtracks I think.
I went through every single comment and didn't see my personal favorite film mentioned once so I'm doing it myself! Mario Bava's The Girl Who Knew To Much (1963). Just a visual cascade of cinematic bravado and sensual impressions. Though the same can be said for many Bava films.
you forgot "on golden pond" the most trip out film from the the most tripped out actor ever, Henry Fonda. I mean either that film or young mr. lincoln.
• Apocalypse Now • Bad Timing • Carnival of Souls • Enter the Void • El Topo/The Holy Mountain • Eraserhead • House • Upstream Color • Vertigo • Waking Life • The Wizard of Oz Special Mentions (tv/media): • H. R. Pufnstuf • Nationally Televised Federal Coronavirus Press Conference - 4/23/20
Im not sure if this counts as psychedelic but dark side of oz always intrigued me. Combining wizard of oz and dark side of the moon is genius. I have a good time stamp for the movie 300 that goes well with dark side of the moon if anybody would like to try it. Anybody? I saw lighthouse this year, that felt like a glorious slow burn trip.
Lucio Fulci's giallo movie Lizard in a Woman's Skin is an example. Petey Weatstraw is fantastic. The Holy Mountain, of course. Those are some stand outs.
*I love what you're wearing : it's very "Moorish" / North African-inspired!* From this angle, I can't quite tell if you're really wearing a *caftan-style tunic or actually just a caftan-printed sundress?* I've got a number of Moroccan and Tunisian tunics myself, and a fake "Moorish" shirt from Zara!
@@deepfocuslens Cool! I had a feeling it was a printed dress, since I couldn't see if what you were wearing had any articulated button loops that a shirt or overcoat would have. I love North African motifs and clothes, and they are basically the origin of the iconic pirate outfits first worn by the Barbary Corsairs of the Ottoman Empire. I'm dating an Algerian woman, and I'm more interested in her culture's clothing than she even is! LOL
@@deepfocuslens Back on topic : I'm not sure if you saw my response to your Facebook thread about this video's question on the best-ever psychedelic movies. I think you might like *Roman Polanski's "(The Tragedie of) Macbeth" (1971)* as well as the *epic while very meditative works from the Soviet Union* like *Sergei Bondarchuk's rendering of "War and Peace" (1962-68)* or *Andrei Tarkovskii's "Solaris" (1972).*
There’s a Japanese movie called Hausu (house) that I enjoy and is,at least for me,a psychedelic experience.Granted it’s more surface level and less meaningful than the movies you’re talking about(as well as just plain silly.Don’t think I’m unaware of how goofy it is),but I enjoy it anyway,
speaking of how funny the Holy Mountain is, ironically it totally takes the piss out of the countercultural obsession with psychedelics as some kind of salvation - in the scene of the 'Pantheon Bar' full of fake spiritualities, the guy goofily declaring that the Tibetan Book of the Dead was a mushroom trip or something (funniest part too imo)
You must have a fairly limited understanding of just what counter-culture means. Not all are obsessed with psychedelics, the way you put it seems niave.
I was always fond of, "City Of Lost Children". There is a more recent film, that is similar from what I hear (I haven't seen it yet). "Holy Motors". Both, not much on story...or rather plot...but highly stylized... And if you are the right person...very entertaining. "Brazil", is almost always in any of my top ten lists.... I also thank you for adding a few movies to my watch list.
It's interesting because that film is far past the band's psychedelic days, so I don't think psychedelic was what they were going for necessarily, yet the writing and soundscapes are so vivid, the concepts so striking, and the animation by Gerald Scarfe definitely make for a "psychedelic adjacent" experience, in my opinion!
@@Michael-cv5wk Good opinion there Mate, I could've chose their concert movie thst came out in the early 70's 'Pink Floyd: Live In Pompei', which mark the end of psychedelia era, but chose 'Pink Floyd: The Wall' instead, because that movie gave a huge impact on all their fans. Cheers.
Un Chien Andalou... 0:18
The Red Shoes... 2:11
2001: A Space Odyssey... 3:44
Enter the Void... 6:05
Dumbo... 7:27
Mulholland Drive... 8:28
Climax... 9:45
Koyaanisqatsi... 12:11
The Holy Mountain... 14:26
House (1977)... 16:54
Apocalypse Now... 18:02
Mandy... 19:59
Under the Skin.
Incredible from start to end.
Mandy was really good
A Field in England is a pretty cool psychedelic trip!
Looks trippy. I liked High-Rise . .
Have you ever seen "The Trip" (1967).A filmed experience of an LSD trip. Directed by Roger Corman, written by Jack Nicholson and starring Peter Fonda.
There are a number of very unique late-1960s psychedelic movies made during the peak of the psychedelic era in addition to the much-flaunted "Easy Rider", such as "Psych Out" and "The Trip" and "Wild in the Streets" as well as the Monkees' "Head". Russ Meyer's "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" is also a legendary cult psychedelic movie. There's also the Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour".
Finally someone who actually knows something! Yes i collect all that...its the best of all!
My favorite is Apocalypse Now. I watched your review of it. Never seen the film as a acid drip. But makes sense given the feel of the film.
Most Fellini films are pretty trippy, especially Juliet of the Spirits, that whole movie feels like one big hallucination. Also Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and of course Easy Rider.
The trippiest kind of films for me are a genre of film from 60s-70s called "structural films" that try to break the very conventions of filmmaking. The type of films we often see, even if they tell "weird" stories, are conventionally made. The non-linear timeline in Mulholland Drive, the dream-like ballet sequence in The Red Shoes, etc., are all relatively "conventional" devices. But "structural films" aim to abandon any kind of convention that the viewers are used to seeing, and yet still manage to communicate their meaning, whatever it is, to the viewers. One notable example is "Zorns Lemma" from 1970. It shows each of the 26 English alphabets on the screen every second. Then it shows them again, but with one alphabet replaced with a short video clip. The process is repeated until all alphabets are replaced, and the full video clip is revealed. Another example is "Nostalgia" from 1971, in which you see a series of photographs accompanied by a narration, with the narrator always describing the next photo instead of the photo you are seeing. These films are disorienting, eschew any established film devices, depict unrecognizable time and space, and yet are often very deceptively simple. The two films I mentioned (and more) are found in the Criterion box set of Hollis Frampton's films. These films are unknown to most audiences because they are experimental in nature and are often not meant for public exhibition. But they are innovative enough that film buffs (like me) have sought them out and admired them. Among the films you mentioned, only "Un chien andalou" were made with the express goal of breaking filmmaking conventions. The rest are fairly conventional creations that happen to have narratives with some weirdness in them. Commericial films can't be too unconventional, or they will put off the audience and won't make money. The weirdest films can only be made in purely experimental settings where the filmmakers don't have to worry about box office or even critical acclaim.
Yes!!
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
- The Fountain
- Midsommar (especially towards the end)
- Blueberry (has a nice ayahuasca scene in it)
- The Salton Sea (to a certain extent)
- The Wizard of Oz
- Alice in Wonderland
Edit: Taking Woodstock also came to mind. It has this nice scene where the entire audience becomes one big wave with all the people as particles. At the time it made a big impression on me.
I saw Koyaanisqatsi on a six story screen with Philip Glass and his Ensemble performing the soundtrack live on the stage below. It was absolutely mind blowing. I was on another plane of existence by the end of the screening. I just walked out of there and the entire world seemed different; unreal. It changed me forever. So, yeah, definitely a psychedelic movie.
You have no idea how annoying it is that I am usually asleep when you upload. This is a treat.
This was a great video idea whoever suggested it. I like when you do these types of videos almost as much as your reviews because we get your pov on more than a few movies when you do these.
I don't think anyone has mentioned "Casino Royale" (1967)... an extremely fun and trippy parody of Agent 007 that is better and just more entertaining than most of the 'serious' Bond flicks. There were plenty of Psych-sploitation films being produced at the time (The Trip, Psych-Out - both of which I really like) but this one is a cut above, at least in terms of the production's quality. The sets created for the film are lavishly psychedelic! Definitely an under-appreciated gem of a movie from the Psychedelic era.
I like it and especially the theme song.
Midnight Cowboy has moments. The party scene with Old Man Willow. Some of the flashback sequences maybe. And just the fact that it landed right around that era of psychedelic rock.
I have never taken drugs (apart from medicine). I've never been drunk, but I do drink. I value clarity. And indeed for me everything is meaningful. But I've also learned to see the dreamlike within reality. Nevertheless I do enjoy psychedelic films, though I generally doubt the philosophy of ecstatic experience. Time is quite important to me. But I see psychedelia in all of its forms as a quest for the eternal. Though I believe that the bridge is washed out that way. Having said that my favorite psychedelic is a very dark and also strangely funny Polish film by Wojciech Has, The Saragossa Manuscript. It features stories within stories and dreams with dreams. There is one breathtaking moment where you realize that you are within about four layers of stories being told at once. Or then again maybe it is just very dark Polish Gothicism. I watch your reviews because they other to my own experiences. Thanks.
Everybody hallucinates. When you go to sleep, dmt gets released in your brain. DMt is so basic on chemical but it is so very profound and mysterious to this day. People have deja vus. I don't know if you ever had one.
I was around ten or eleven when I watched "Head" (1968) starring The Monkees, on TV back in the 1970's (a fat, heavy television set with dials and no cable or streaming). Half of it flew over my noggin. Certain images got burned into my psyche. Quite a trip. Today as an adult of 54 I see its messages, but that kid back then was sure perplexed. I was almost scared to open a medicine cabinet after that. 😄
Ken Russell's Altered States and Gothic
I saw Altered States as a kid and it resonated with me right away. It's weird how some people are attracted to psychedelic imagery and altered states long before they even get access to drugs. : ) Apparently Albert Hoffman had a psychedelic experience in the woods as a child and then he goes on to be the discoverer of LSD..
ALTERED STATES really got trashed on its theatrical release---by critics especially. It's a favorite, and I was happy that Ken lived long enough for me to work with him and tell him how much I admired it (and Jim Cameron at the time as well). I think it takes time for certain "special" films to bring people into them. .
I will always remember seeing Aronofsky's The Fountain on Black Friday 2006 at the Dundee Theater in Omaha, NE. That film transported me with its control of three parallel timelines, the haunting and intense score by Clint Mansell (aided by the Kronos Quartet and Mogwai), and beautiful cinematography. The climactic sequence set to "Death is the Road to Awe" for me is the definition of a psychedelic trip in how it transmitted the concept of just what the quest for immortality really means in such an exhilarating blast of light.
If you take mushrooms during a hike in the outdoors...then Nature itself becomes a psychedelic movie. One time I even went skiing while tripping....mountains melted, and I skied the best I ever had that day lol. It was easy to see trails and routes down the slope.
One of Lucio Fulci masterpieces “A Lizard in A Woman’s Skin”. In My opinion, the most important psychedelic thriller of all time. Even the editing has a psychedelic rhythm and every dream scene is a piece of the purest video art. It’s incredible.
Anteaters, It must be seen in the most "uncut" version that is found
Version available*, cause this movie has been cut in 4 different mutilate version since 1972. European version has less scene of violence, american versions has more cuts when it comes to sex scenes
Tommy, 1975. The movie version of the 1969 Who classic rock opera. The music, the visuals, the whole f-ing thing. Lol
There's several psychedelic films I love, but one that really sticks into my mind is Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. Admittedly, I'm not 100 percent okay with the subject matter. But the level of filmmaking, the twist and turns in the film, and just the overall dream like imagery really gave me a new perspective of the transition to womanhood.
The Doors,
Natural Born Killers,
Vertigo
3 Women,
The Other Side of the Wind
Bringing Out the Dead
'Koyaanisqatsi' always does it for me, too. I have seen it several times on a big screen, usually by myself because hardly anyone I know gets it. It's one of those films that makes you feel small and insignificant in the grand scheme of the cosmos and yet part of some strangely beautiful earthly magic. It's almost like I feel the planet moving beneath my feet, when I watch it. I get a similar feeling when listening to certain 'Stars of the Lid' (drone) music tracks
'Ashes & Snow' by Canadian artist Gregory Colbert is another film that also has that mystical feeling to it but includes a few words (narrated by Laurence Fishburne in the English version) which accompany the wonderful, hypnotic, meditative music score, co-written by Lisa Gerrard of 'Dead Can Dance' & 'Gladiator' soundtrack fame
Both films are often, unfairly labelled 'pretentious' but at their heart, I feel their humanity
The Thief and the Cobbler, The Dark side of Oz , Yellow Submarine, Alice in Wonderland, Fear and Loathing and Flash Gordon lol !
El Topo by Alejandro Jorodowsky. A cool ass western that's not afraid to also be weird as hell.
If you appreciated "Koyaanisqatsi", "Samsara" by the same film company is even more psychedelic. It is a technical wonder. Well worth a future review if this is your forte.
Fantasia (1940) will have to be up there LOL.......
A few suggestions for the general "psychedelic/surreal genre: 81/2, JULIET AND THE SPIRITS, CITY OF WOMEN (all Fellini), JACOB'S LADDER, PHASE 4, A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, NAKED LUNCH, ORPHEUS, TESTAMENT OF ORPHEUS, THE CELL, TRAINSPOTTING, LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD, GHOST IN THE SHELL (1&), WINGS OF DESIRE, 200 HOTELS (Zappa's film), HEAD (Rafelson's Monkees film), SPIRITED AWAY, most all of Charlie Kauffman's films, ANDROMEDIA (Japanese), JOGAKU (same), OCULUS, DON'T LOOK NOW, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, ...And have to say that a few "straight" SF and Horror films, like FANTASTIC VOYAGE and MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH sure delve into "inner space" in druggy-indirect ways. The climax of Corman's gothic-horror-melodrama, THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM also dissolves into early 60's "psychedelics". Ok, if I jot any more titles I'll overstay my "welcome" more than I have.;-7
Check out the french film Renegade/Blueberry. It's called renegade in the usa and blueberry everywhere else. The director went on over 100 shamanistic voyages for research. He even cast his shaman in the movie. One of my favorites. It's a psychedelic western with amazing effects and audio!
Psychedelic could be part and parcel to surrealist cinema, avant-garde, and experimental film, a lot to discover in these areas, first one I think back on if you haven't watched it is The Color of Pomegranates (1969), before Holy Mountain which was 73; any early Kenneth Anger short; Chris Marker; Maya Deren and Guy Maddin for that surreal, hypnotic trance feeling (like Bela Tarr b/w trance like pacing)...almost endurance testing films. I know Gaspar loved Jigoku (1960) and it's wild visual style; Matthew Barney's film/video work and any of the early video artists pioneers (some on video data bank site)...crazy random wild frantic trippy visuals to be found there.
Koyaanisqatsi changed my view on film. It was the most mind-blowing experience. Has anyone seen Blind Beast? 1960s Japanese psycho-sexual drama that's pretty psychedelic and pretty disturbing, but an amazing film? I was also gonna mention late period Fellini, dreamy confusion
A lot of my favorite psychedelic movies were featured on here but here are some more of my favorites:
Beyond the Black Rainbow
Suspiria (both 1977 and 2018)
Under the Skin
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Annihilation
Bliss
Angel’s Egg
Repo Man
Let the Corpses Tan
Cam
The Dance of Reality
MindGame
Tokyo Gore Police
Liquid Sky
Knife+Heart
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
High Life
Paprika
Wow you have two out of my three: "2001" and "Koyaanisqatsi". The only one you're missing is "Yellow Submarine"! Supremely psychedelic! Just saw an interview with Jeff Goldblum in which he talked about taking acid and going to a double feature of Yellow Submarine and Satyricon! Now there's a double feature for the ages!
Good Time. I wouldn't call it "psychedelic" necessarily (although it certainly has it's moments) but adrenaline can very much be an intense druggy experience where everything feels life or death and while it's certainly scary there's a small part of you which kind of likes that feeling.
Enter The Void is absolutely crazy
Great job! I was happy to hear to Holy Mountain, 2001, and Andalusion Dog were mentioned. I really like her analysis of films. But she ever tell us her name?
Some great films mentioned here. I would add (and suggest viewing): What A Way To Go! (1964-Shirley Maclaine), Naked Lunch (Cronenberg/Burroughs), and Casino Royale (1967-Peter Sellers, etc.).
For me it's Caligari, it amazes me everytime i rewatch!
Nicolas Roeg’s Walkabout.
Fun Discussion,. I would really love to see you tackle Inland Empire. Usually described as Lynch's most impenatrable film, I think there is a through- line in it that you pick up on with multiple viewings , Astounding really. I think it is also key to view and consider More Things That Happened , a collection of deleted scenes that broaden the narrative
Mulholland Drive: When Melrose Place meets Twilight Zone
Stay is more than just a psychological drama about a car crash it is actually kinda psychedelic at times how it represents and depicts aspects of head trauma and how someones psyche may work after being put in a damaged/displaced state... TBI is a very real occurrence and is something people don't think about or want to think about because it's unlike anything that can be endured
Easy Rider is extremely trippy in certain sequences for sure (not just the acid scene). Not my favorite film in that genre, but it's clear that Dennis Hopper was no stranger to Hoffman's problem child.
A few thoughts,,,
Leni Riefenstahl starred in a movie called The Holy Mountain, directed by Arnold Fanck. Being early 20th century Germans, they had a different perspective of the concept of a holy mountain, but it's no less trippy, and worth a look.
The first time I saw Apocalypse Now was in 1979. I took some acid, and walked five miles through a Wisconsin blizzard to sit in an empty theater. Imagine enduring the physical difficulty of freezing winds and knee deep snow with a head full of acid to find Marlon Brando staring at you saying "You must make a friend of horror and moral terror, otherwise, they are enemies to be feared." But the message I got was that Col. Kurtz was, at the core of his being, a warrior. This was his nature and purpose. This was complicated by two conflicting facts. The first was that he was a moral man who found himself face to face with a level of savagery he was unprepared to accept. The second was that he was in a position where he was forced to take orders from people he knew were cowards, liars, and hypocrites. This caused his sanity to snap; and his only course of action was to break away from everything and forge his own path in life - and Capt. Willard found that he must do the same. This was the lesson: find your nature and purpose, and do it regardless of the cost.
So in conclusion, Apocolyps Now is not eeally a psychedelic movie, but rather a psychological study of madness and Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece.
Not related to psychedelic movies but I'd love to hear your thoughts on Days of Heaven
Nick Cage isn't an actor, he's a genre!
Wow, deepfocuslens is gorgeous, extremely intelligent and well-educated, and a movie-lover as well! Also, her movie reviews are informative and very thought-provoking. Heck yeah, I'm subscribing! :-)
Love the psychedelic content and references on this channel!!!
Of course Koyaanisqatsi had to be mentioned. It's the one film that (as a critic) I can never score or rank because it's a different form of art than filmmaking is. It doesn't follow ANY rules and therefore can't be judged by them. What else in terms of psychedelia ....?
Solaris (1972) still stumps me. Even when I start into it with the resolve to pick up on things, I can never come out the other other side with anything to show for it. Tarkovsky's style is truly drug-like.
Pink Floyd The Wall (1982) can be so entertaining in its stream of consciousness. It doesn't have the deep meaning it thinks it does, but that ends up leaving room for the audience to drive along its loopy path and admire a vortex-like beauty.
Spirited Away (2001) is sensory overload. Anything by Hayao Miyazaki is visually ambitious, but this one shows much more than others the variety he crafts in his worlds. It sucks you in and you surrender to its unique logic.
The Room (2003) is psychedelic at a more base level .. that being Tommy Wiseau's acting. You can't watch it and not trip balls.
If music videos count, the Hiro Murai-helmed This Is America (2018) is political surrealism at its peak.
Sedmikrasky, Hausu, Black Moon, "Stalker" and "Solaris", 2001... Lynch's "Rabbits" short movie is trippy as well
Zardoz (1974) ... [Sean Connery, Charlotte Rampling]
Sort of forgotten flick
I love Zardoz but it's hilarious and weird largely because it takes itself too seriously. It's like an accidental Monty Python movie
A buddy of mine and I split a Frisbee full of shrooms and watched BLADE RUNNER. The neon signs were literally reaching out off the screen over us. The Vangelis, the city. Whoah. Then we watched LEGEND, and that was even more trippy. Heh heh. Guess that doesn't count, though. ALTERED STATES is pretty amazing. Also, ANIMA MUNDI. Knock knock: Who's there? Knock knock: Who's there? Knock knock: Who's there? Philip Glass.
Touching upon the psychedelic experience: The Saragossa Manuscript. 2001: A Space Odyssey. Fellini Satyricon. Picnic at Hanging Rock. Heart of Glass. Apocalypse Now. The Tin Drum. Quest for Fire. A Zed & Two Noughts. Koyaanisqatsi. Baraka. Survive Style 5+. Three Businessmen. Love Is the Devil. Being John Malkovich. Songs from the Second Floor (really, all later Roy Andersson). The Sea that Thinks. Paprika. The Fountain. Enter the Void. Voyage of Time: Life's Journey.
But best of all, David Attenborough narrated nature documentaries. Everyone should have one or all of these to catch them and cradle them through trips.
I can't find any decent lsd to save my life anymore.
I agree about nature docs, have you seen "The Besieged Fortress"?
I know it's too late, but I forgot about "Stalker" of Andrew Tarkovsky. I don't really know why I love this film, there's no action scene but philosophical dialogs and beatiful cinema operator's work, and soundtrack of Edward Artemiev is fantastic, actors is very impressive too
Maybe The Big Lebowski
Definitely!
just a meme film
The short films of Kenneth Anger are definitely a weird trip. Also a lot of Dario Argento films especially the early ones are really psychedelic ( in fact a lot of Italian giallo films are quite psychedelic. I recently saw the film Phase IV directed by the great graphic designer Saul Bass. Definitely would be great high.
Fantastic Mr. Fox is fun to watch on mushrooms. Especially when they show Kylie's face (he's the possum)
"Head" starring the Monkees, written by Jack Nicholson
Everyone's secret number one favourite.or at least it should be.
@@starcloud4959 I wholeheartedly agree
I think Fellini's Satyricon and Pasolini's 'Trilogy Of Life' are very psychedelic. Comparable with 2001 but rather than seeing the future/space as the forum of otherness/innerness, they explore the breadth of human psychic potential through perspectives from the past. In the former case, the totally alien experience of ancient Rome and the latter, the medieval.
Agree with a lot of these and need to look up a few of them but to cover some anime: Angel's Egg from Mamoru Oshii and Paprika (really any Satoshi Kon except Tokyo Godfathers). O and also A Scanner Darkly with the rotoscope animation and story about losing your mind from drugs
Jacob’s Ladder
Trainspotting is really incredible I think because although it's just about Scottish heroin addicts, it has some really great moments. Renton's withdrawal scene is uncomfortable but I think it offers some kind of small epiphany about the consequences of their actions. In the end though, Renton is still just the person that he tried not to be in the middle of the film and that he's still just the same opportunist as he always was as much as he tried not to be. It also has one of the best soundtracks I think.
If you've not watched it, I recommend Head (1968). It's very trippy.
I went through every single comment and didn't see my personal favorite film mentioned once so I'm doing it myself!
Mario Bava's The Girl Who Knew To Much (1963). Just a visual cascade of cinematic bravado and sensual impressions.
Though the same can be said for many Bava films.
you forgot "on golden pond" the most trip out film from the the most tripped out actor ever, Henry Fonda. I mean either that film or young mr. lincoln.
"The Saragossa Manuscript" (1965) - very trippy experience. Jerry Garcia's favourite movie.
If Jerry likes it then im in!!! Now I will have to hunt it down for sure.
This is such a 'deepfocuslens' video lmao
• Apocalypse Now
• Bad Timing
• Carnival of Souls
• Enter the Void
• El Topo/The Holy Mountain
• Eraserhead
• House
• Upstream Color
• Vertigo
• Waking Life
• The Wizard of Oz
Special Mentions (tv/media):
• H. R. Pufnstuf
• Nationally Televised Federal Coronavirus Press Conference - 4/23/20
Check out Ben Wheatley's Kill List... like the Wicker Man on Acid.... And Hausu...and Climax
Most of Michel Gondrys films could be mentioned. Especially Mood Indigo.
A lot of animation. Waking Life.
Mirrormask.
Andy Warhol's Frankenstein and Andy Warhol's Dracula also known as Blood for Dracula and Flesh for Frankenstein.
Head is a pretty good film
And some fine music! 👍
And, they don't Monkee around...
Best ever!!!!so glad it wasn't mentioned on her conventional "film students" list.
Im not sure if this counts as psychedelic but dark side of oz always intrigued me. Combining wizard of oz and dark side of the moon is genius. I have a good time stamp for the movie 300 that goes well with dark side of the moon if anybody would like to try it. Anybody?
I saw lighthouse this year, that felt like a glorious slow burn trip.
You are my favorite psychedelic movie reviewer.
you should make a part 2 video. there's so many more psychedelic films out there.
Out of all these, I’ve only seen Midsommar. This needs to change
The Blair Witch Project and Spawn are the first to come to mind, for very different reasons.
HEAD (1968) Bob Rafelson, The Monkees, and some surprising cameos.
Not really a fan of Natural Born Killers, but I could see it being lumped into a similar list. Review soon?
Lucio Fulci's giallo movie Lizard in a Woman's Skin is an example. Petey Weatstraw is fantastic. The Holy Mountain, of course. Those are some stand outs.
*Lucio
@@lukess.s Thanks. Fixed.
Repo Man is pretty trippy!
*I love what you're wearing : it's very "Moorish" / North African-inspired!*
From this angle, I can't quite tell if you're really wearing a *caftan-style tunic or actually just a caftan-printed sundress?* I've got a number of Moroccan and Tunisian tunics myself, and a fake "Moorish" shirt from Zara!
Thanks! It's a dress with the print.
@@deepfocuslens Cool! I had a feeling it was a printed dress, since I couldn't see if what you were wearing had any articulated button loops that a shirt or overcoat would have.
I love North African motifs and clothes, and they are basically the origin of the iconic pirate outfits first worn by the Barbary Corsairs of the Ottoman Empire.
I'm dating an Algerian woman, and I'm more interested in her culture's clothing than she even is! LOL
@@deepfocuslens Back on topic : I'm not sure if you saw my response to your Facebook thread about this video's question on the best-ever psychedelic movies.
I think you might like *Roman Polanski's "(The Tragedie of) Macbeth" (1971)* as well as the *epic while very meditative works from the Soviet Union* like *Sergei Bondarchuk's rendering of "War and Peace" (1962-68)* or *Andrei Tarkovskii's "Solaris" (1972).*
I loved The Red Shoes incredible movie
would you make a video on some the most beautiful movies you've seen for use gentle folk ? and also have u seen little women ?
There’s a Japanese movie called Hausu (house) that I enjoy and is,at least for me,a psychedelic experience.Granted it’s more surface level and less meaningful than the movies you’re talking about(as well as just plain silly.Don’t think I’m unaware of how goofy it is),but I enjoy it anyway,
speaking of how funny the Holy Mountain is, ironically it totally takes the piss out of the countercultural obsession with psychedelics as some kind of salvation - in the scene of the 'Pantheon Bar' full of fake spiritualities, the guy goofily declaring that the Tibetan Book of the Dead was a mushroom trip or something (funniest part too imo)
You must have a fairly limited understanding of just what counter-culture means. Not all are obsessed with psychedelics, the way you put it seems niave.
I was always fond of, "City Of Lost Children". There is a more recent film, that is similar from what I hear (I haven't seen it yet). "Holy Motors". Both, not much on story...or rather plot...but highly stylized... And if you are the right person...very entertaining. "Brazil", is almost always in any of my top ten lists.... I also thank you for adding a few movies to my watch list.
The City of Lost Children ..... just extraordinary stuff. And hard to put into one genre. Love it, especially the whole look.
Altered States, 2001-A Space Odyssey, Pink Floyd-The Wall
Pink Floyd: The Wall.
It's interesting because that film is far past the band's psychedelic days, so I don't think psychedelic was what they were going for necessarily, yet the writing and soundscapes are so vivid, the concepts so striking, and the animation by Gerald Scarfe definitely make for a "psychedelic adjacent" experience, in my opinion!
@@Michael-cv5wk
Good opinion there Mate, I could've chose their concert movie thst came out in the early 70's 'Pink Floyd: Live In Pompei', which mark the end of psychedelia era, but chose 'Pink Floyd: The Wall' instead, because that movie gave a huge impact on all their fans.
Cheers.
I always loved watching fear and loathing on lsd . The wall was bad ass too . Also Disney fantasia
Have you matched your attire to the topic?
Yellow Submarine (1968)
The Illustrated Man (1969)
Rhinoceros (1974)
Wise Blood (1979)
Angel's Egg is another good one.
Surprised no one has mentioned Linklater’s Waking Life!
Vanilla Sky. I can relate. For me, most of the 90s was a lucid dream.
Baraka, A Field in England, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, Touki Bouki, Bad Boy Bubby.
The Yellow Submarine Animated Movie.
The Limits of Control by JJ
Who's JJ ?