Is this movie really set in an alternative New Zeeland 1960's? To me it looks more like the 1940's with some Dickensian elements, like the orphan, the opium pipes and the prosititutes, which have a 19th century feel to them.
But then again, I have no idea how New Zeeland looked in the 60's :-)
The time frame is New Zealand (please note the A in Zea :p) in the 1960, but they decided to make it look nothing like the 60's at all it seems.
Don't know why they bother to inform us of the 1960 at all.
"I'm mad. You're mad"
"How do you know I'm mad?"
"You must be,or you wouldn't have come here"
According to a recent interview with the director, the movie is set in a "futuristic New Zealand city where the Victorian era industrial revolution never stopped". This movie is a typically quirky, "Split Endish" piece of "Oooo- we're different" Kiwiana crap. Most likely aimed at the post adolescent geeky emotional type university student but is as original as David Bains re-trial and about as interesting as a regurgitated big mac after a hard night of Speights.
sharearc_angel6, you make no sense
shareIt's steampunk. Steampunk is a genre that takes place in a world that still runs on steam power. Another example would be The Golden Compass.
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Do you hear the people sing?
Lestatic #4
makes sense to a nz'er
shareI'm not a Kiwi but I figured out what he was saying. One just had to understand the vernacular and items being referenced. I thought it was funny, but can easily see how it would mystify others. :)
On a side note, movie critics in the 1970s (I have old Newsweek & Time magazines from the period) were particularly fond of couching their criticism in a free flowing river of pop culture (of the time) references. Though as an adult I understand what those critics were saying, it was pretty grueling ... when one was desiring clear and concise commentary :)
I remember a review of the then new "A Star is Born" (remake) movie with Barbara Streisand and to this day, I couldn't figure out if the critic liked it or loathed it. ;)
Dr. Kila Marr was right. Kill the Crystalline Entity.share
Ummmm. David Bain hasn't been re-tried yet.
share[deleted]
I'm with you mate - this film was very poor in my opinion. The mise-en-scene was all over the place, you didn't know if you were in Dickensian London or some futuristic milieu. The performances were so over the top, it was embarrassing,a weak, confusing storyline and rushed editing. I really cannot say one good thing about this film. Apart from Saffron Burrows has got a lovely face.
shareI'm with you mate - this film was very poor in my opinion. The mise-en-scene was all over the place, you didn't know if you were in Dickensian London or some futuristic milieu. The performances were so over the top, it was embarrassing,a weak, confusing storyline and rushed editing. I really cannot say one good thing about this film. Apart from Saffron Burrows has got a lovely face.
I did - 2 hours of my life wasted. :-(
shareIt is very like "Desperate Remedies" in it's ambiguity, and I would hope you would know NZ film especially this one before knowing the basic tendancies of NZ film-makers. It's supposed to be gothic, but also futuristic and revolutionary. In other words "fictional". If you want all setting to remain adherent to all themes then you should stick to American Hollywood BS. Not sorry, but hey, we all gotta defend our home-grounds, and I think mine is pretty good. We have a remarkably good film industy despite the fact that we have less than a third the population of NY alone. So get a clue about international film and about the differences we all encounter. You want country to complain about complain about fckin' France, those *beep* are always making films that appear good but end up sucking sht. True, they have made some incredibly good films throughout all time, and contemporarily Francis Weber and Francois Ozon are beautiful directors. Try and get to know NZ film as you should.
shareIt got a really bad review in the dom post...... and most NZ films get overrated by critics. But, I haven't seen it yet, so we'll have to wait and see.
shareI went to see it last night.
And I thought the concept of the story was good, and the Brothers were compelling to watch (kind of like NEO from The Matrix), it was just lacking something??? I've been thinking about this all morning but I just can't put my finger on what IT is?
Perhaps the acting was a little flat? If people were dying all around you I would be getting fairly emotional.
CRAIG HALL put across another top supporting performance!
This movie in NO WAY resembles NZ from the 60s. London in the 1600s perhaps. Call it artistic licence.
that movie was the biggest waste of time ever, lol. i just saw it and thought it was absolutely horrible, the script was bad and the acting wasn't much better. and WHAT?! that was meant to be 1960's new zealand? you're kidding me, it looked like the 1800's got really confused with its self, and how advanced it should be. It looked like 19th century england, crossed with 1940's war time germany, crossed with something else that didn't even make sense to exist. I'm sure new zealand wasn't that far behind in the 60's.
it was too much a mix of everything, and too confused with itself, pick a time frame and stick with it. If they'd gone with a whole 1800's and stuck with it, it might not have been as bad as it turned out, but i'm sorry, in my opinion i don't know how anyone could have liked that movie, i spent most of the time picking it's faults and inconsistancies, and i'm not one to ever do that. that was such a mess of a film and the only entertainment i got from it was paying it out
"There's unlimited juice? This party is gonna be off the hook!"
It wasn't supposed to be real-life New Zealand. In case the vampire church and zepplins didn't tip you off, it's supposed to be set in an alternate reality, with different technology.
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I am the signature that dare not speak its name.
Lestatic #4
yeah i get that, i'm not stupid, lol. don't sass me. i get that that's what 'apparently' that was meant to be portraying, but that didn't do a very good job of it, it was way too confusing that that's what it was meant to be.
and if it was meant to be an alternate reality in which they didn't move on from the industrial age? come on that's just stupid, as soon as some technology moves forward, like tv's and tazers, and headphones and other such technology, umm yeah, you're kinda not gonna be stuck in the industrial age anymore, you'd move on if things started to advance, i mean seriously, fairly modern looking plumbing in a place that looks like 1800s england? yeah, the place shouldn't look like people still poop in the street and throw their bath water out the windows, if that's the case. in my opinion it wasn't too well thought out. i'm sorry, but for me, okay maybe if they portrayed it better and in a way that made more sense it might not have been so bad, but i'm sorry for me that movie was just a confused mess, and not just me being confused watching it, the movie itself was confused with what exactly it was meant to be.
"There's unlimited juice? This party is gonna be off the hook!"
Uh, yah... That's steampunk. The whole idea of it is askewed technology. It's not supposed to be practical. If you want efficient technology, try dieselpunk. ha ha, not really.
share[deleted]
It is not at all confusing, except perhaps for Americans, for whom the whole world is confusing;-)) Michael Moorcock had the multiverse going in the 60s, and zeppelins, the empire, and all other good fictional stuff is in this movie. I thought the movie was great, although I don't normally go for vampire and werewolf type bs. "Steampunk" eh?
Just seen it here in Jakarta on Star.
Just seen it here in Jakarta on Star.
It's not really Kiwiana. Kiwiana is sort of like a special brand of kitsch, that specifically comes from New Zealand. The Buzzy Bee, Pavlova, L&P, tea towels from small towns with the a map of NZ on them, Gumboots, Pies with Watties Tomato sauce, sutbbies and black singlets, saying bugger. Sort of at least. It's hard to describe if you haven't lived here.
There's Always A Siren, Singing In A Shipwreck
It's not really Kiwiana. Kiwiana is sort of like a special brand of kitsch, that specifically comes from New Zealand. The Buzzy Bee, Pavlova, L&P, tea towels from small towns with the a map of NZ on them, Gumboots, Pies with Watties Tomato sauce, sutbbies and black singlets, saying bugger. Sort of at least. It's hard to describe if you haven't lived here.
As others have aforementioned, I think the setting as depicted wasn't completely clear
'Who is this person the world owes money to? Can we just kill the bastard and relax?'
As others have stated this film is Steampunk.
In almost all steampunk the world is still primarily Victorian era (in theme, if not in time) but there are odd bits of advanced technology without the rest of the modern world as we know it.
In the case of Perfect Creature the brothers themselves hold back technology. In the case of medical research it is deliberate. In other fields it could be deliberate or a side effect of a world were humans are second class citizens. (either way it does not matter much to the story, and so is not speculated on in the film).
I've been a fan of the genre since I first played Space: 1889 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_1889) back in 1989.
See Steampunk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk) for more detail and other examples.
the police seemed to be wearing modern day clothes, yet the towns population looked 19th century. and then you had the opening scene that then fast forwarded 100 years. i thought the police were time travellers for a while until i realised the film was just simply a bit of a mess. i still enjoyed it though.
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