Last and First Men (2020) - Modern Romanticism (A Tribute to Jóhann Jóhannsson)
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- Last and First Men (2020), directed by Jóhann Jóhannsson, starring Tilda Swinton, is more than a typical avant-garde, experimental film. It's a reimagining and a modern visualization of the Romanticism movement popularized in the 19th Century. It takes inspiration not only from the 1930 novel by Olaf Stapledon of the same name, but also the art, literature and nihilistic philosophy of the Romantics.
The use of this footage is protected by the Fair Use doctrine of the American Copyright Laws. I do not known nor claim ownership of any of the material used. All footage and music belongs solely to Deutsche Grammophon.
Music: (All from the Last and First Men Soundtrack, by Jóhann Jóhannsson and Yair Elazar Glotman)
A Move to Neptune
The Few That Prevail
Task No.1: The Scattering of Seeds
Physical Description of the Last Human Beings
The Sun
The Navigators
Slow Destruction of Neptune
Childhood/Land of the Young
Images Used:
Portrait of Jóhannsson by Jónatan Grétarsson, www.indiewire....
All other images sourced from the Public Domain, www.wikipedia.com.
#LastAndFirstMen
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I was blessed enough to experience this in a theater yesterday. AMAZING.
Imagine the works he could've bless us with if he'd lived longer...an artist not of this Earth
Makes me want to cry. What a tremendous loss.
Fantastic analysis. Seeing this video really clarified my thoughts i had been processing over this.
Ive been reading the novel after being fascinated by the film i randomly watched one night.
The book is slow and odd, encyclopedic or like a history book. Yet as i continued i found it was emotionally resonating with me, despite the dry tone. I couldnt put my finger on how it did so. By all accounts it should have merely felt like a quaint, archaic take on how science and culture could evolve into the future from the 1930s.
You nailed it. It has romantic themes so obviously in hindsight - the countless cultures rising and falling back into primitiveness. Repetition of industrious advance and then social collapse from psychological decay and counterbalance. Different epochs having all manner of approaches - religion, science, sexual connection, flight/movement - the book constantly focuses on these elements as transitory searches for meaning (though obliquely). And the nihilistic lens is valid - that ultimately the lack of clarity of meaning was repeated infinitely.
These are universal themes that carry equal weight from the time of its conception. The decay and failure of 20xx climate is mirrored in the wars and rampant industrialiam, colonialism and urbanisation of the 18/19xx's. The personal call to sublimation is felt as keenly then, as now, as on venus or neptune: recentering on respect and sustainable existance is a cycle that needs ever-repeating for us all. Thanks for the reminder.
The novel gives great attention to personal development and being able to 'live' within an advanced society. The 18th men for example (spoilers) spend 1000years of adolescence in intentional wild living, in the southern hemisphere of neptune maintained as a wilderness. Similiarly the individuality of members is enhanced and supported - providing a profound diversity and relational society which previous monocultures lacked.
From a writers perspective - creating this text that tackles romanticism and the sublime so elegantly and subtlely - in the science fiction genre is fascinating and masterful. The film is equally praiseworthy for its respect to translating the material, filmmaking and depth of subtle storytelling.
I saw this in my recommended and assumed you were a channel with 100k subs or something...you're criminally undersubscribed, this is a fantastic video btw
Wow, that means a lot! Thank you so much!
7:09 The sun is not the only source of color. The oscilloscope/communication dot is green. ;-)
Great movie and score. Re the latter, it's quite a while into the movie, when describing the land of the maturing children, that we (or I) first hear a strong, identifiable melody. It always moves me terribly.
I'd have to work a little too hard on a YT comment to dig into your interpretations of Romanticism and nihilism (though I'd be curious if Johannsson drew these connections, as well). I will say that I've watched this film many times since Xmas and it moves so inexorably and beautifully toward its last few lines that it's always over before I know it. The end is so satisfying, within the context of the story it tells.
It's a shame that Johannsson went out the way he did, but what a wonderful film to represent him for eternity. His last and first film. Listen (and watch) patiently....
Childhood / Land of the Young. Possibly the greatest musical gift Jóhannsson ever gave us.
@@prodical666 Oh, my. I'd forgotten writing this. And... I watched LAFM last night for the first time in a year with my best friend. Quite a coincidence. Afterwards, I told her that the most amazing thing about this movie is that I've never fallen asleep during it. ;-) I said, I love every second of this movie, but I'm always anticipating two points. The Land of the Young, for the reasons I gave above. We replayed it and it's my guess that the music when Land of the Young (still not traditionally melodic and therefore similar to the music we'd heard before), from the chord, to the deep up and down notes, to the high-pitched sounds which mimic the up-coming melody, are all in the same key and foreshadow and prepare us for the inaugural melodies of the piece. It's as if we know the melody before we've heard it. After that, I'm anticipating the last 15 minutes of the story but esp the last line.
Some have called this not a "movie" movie. Whatever it is, I think it's power comes from the three legs of visuals, story and music all being co-equal legs, supporting each other and the whole. That's not the case with "movie" movies (the soundtrack often being the most subservient). And may be why, like 2001, it feels like a transcendent experience (to me). Cheers.
@@darkpatches WOAH. That is a crazy coincidence considering your comment is 2 years old. How did your friend like the film?
You and I share an extremely similar sentiment, Ive watched this film 3 times now and I am so so eagerly anticipating the exact same parts you mention. It is certainly not a typical movie, I would hesitate to even call it an art house film, although if I was telling someone about it thats the best way I could prepare them for it.
I find myself glued to the film, unable to take my eyes off it, I savour every line of dialogue and every piece of music. My biggest regret as a long time Barbican enjoyer is not seeing this at its initial screening there in 2018. The film was screened with a live orchestra by the LSO after Jóhann's death. It would have been very special.
@@prodical666 "I find myself glued to the film, unable to take my eyes off it, I savour every line of dialogue and every piece of music." Yes, my friend. Yes. You are not alone in this.
Damn, i had no idea he passed. In another timeline he continues to create masterworks we will never hear 😢
great work!
beautiful
thank you
Thank you
amazing
Fine interpretation of the movie.
A core substance of romanticism that is almost always overlooked within English speaking, 'Whig' _cultural history_ is the recognition of *spirituality as the foundation of civilization* , immanent within the works of 'continental', 'Central European' imagination as e.g. 'Novalis', Hölderlin and Schelling - and thus in contrast to the 'insular' mere sensational or _emotive_ 'Faustian' anti-heroes of Byron, or the 'monsters abroad' by Shelley.
('Schelling's Naturphilosophie')
ruclips.net/video/AqFMydVq4MI/видео.html
Nietzsche despaired due to a modernist 'vitalism' - not due to his _romantic_ distrust of rational, 'enlightened' philosophy and it's _utopian_ and _alienating_ 'social engineering'.