Film Reviews
Film Review: Back to the Future with “Blade Runner”
Cape Town, 6 March 2009 – by Bianca Gubalke
Film Reviews
Although forward-thinking and always interested in the new and progressive, I also follow my intuition… especially when suddenly something happens that connects me with my favorite movies. I am talking of movies I studied, analyzed and learned so much from during my active years as a screenplay writer for the European Film and Movie Industry. Yesterday’s electrifying trigger was the mesmerizing music of one of my favorite composers… another Greek with an incredibly long and mythologically tinted opulent name, the short version being: Vangelis!
It was this music that brought back memories of the jaw-dropping and goosebumps-raising cult film “Blade Runner” (1982), a science fiction masterpiece directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer and Sean Young.
Los Angeles 2019!
Created in 1982, the movie paints a sumptuously dark and dramatic picture of a utopian city of total control and total absence of standstill or rest. Dangerous sub-tasks on planet Earth’s “off-world colonies” are outsourced to so-called “replicants” who are genetically designed and artificially manufactured adult beings with a lifespan of only 4 years… and visually virtually indistinguishable from ‘normal’ human beings.
Following a revolt against this blatant abuse amongst replicants, they are declared illegal on Earth and a special police force of so-called “blade runners” are trained to hunt down escaped replicants with the objective to cleanse the planet by “retiring” (killing) them.
What interested me for this Film Review was how I would see this movie after almost 30 years - after all, it’s set in the year 2019 and we are just 10 years away from it today! It would tell me something about the Vision of the movie at the time, the evolution as to the technical and technological execution (who had a computer in 1982?) and about me: who I had become.
At the time, this movie was a bible for me. It inspired me to think out of the box in cinematographic terms – which I applied in my award-winning screenplay “Die Emscher Schlange” – in the forefield of which the very first online conference setup was tested by Telkom Germany (@ DM 600 an hour!) and I remember having to go to Berlin to see the first and extremely exciting 3D-Animation executed for an Architectural Design Project.
Those were the days… they come alive as I look at the original “Storyboard” Book (dated 4 March, 1981) and the Screenplay (dated 23 February 1981) today… such precious documents forming the blueprint of a future masterpiece.
Almost 30 years have gone by. The whole world has changed dramatically, the Internet has happened and Time is accelerating in a way many cannot cope with, escaping in one way or another… I was tempted to say “…retiring”.
It’s weird to even type 1981… it has drifted that far away. . .
What did I feel and connect with after watching ‘Blade Runner’ after so many years?
Firstly, it’s of course a movie for the grand cinema; watching it on TV or a tiny screen is strictly unforgivable if you want to allow yourself to be carried away into another world. Unless you’ve seen the movie several times on the big screen… as I have.
Secondly, it’s hard to believe the parallels of the phenomenal fictional setting in the movie and our reality today… and, projecting ourselves into the future given the current economical climate, we will see where we are going to be within a short decade.
Besides, the movie addresses today’s big relevant topics with an almost prophetic view: overpopulation, globalization, climatic change and… genetic engineering. Strangely, some images reminded me of Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Transition” visuals… that feeling of complete ‘homelessness’… set in the psychedelic buzz of hyper-modern Tokyo by night.
Bearing in mind that in 1981 hardly anyone had a personal computer… and even the slightest notion of any electronic or graphic animation cost a fortune, the futuristic yet realistic backdrop of the movie is mind-blowing.
Perfect the setting and design into the smallest detail… masterful the lightning, fantastic the cinematography by Jordan Cronenweth. . . but… yes, there is one “but” because we are in 2009: too slow the pacing and editing.
Don’t get me wrong: it was fine… even perfect then… but now it’s too slow for today’s fast-moving audience. This definitely has changed, this definitely wasn’t projected: the acceleration of time and all it influences. While we relished in the masterfully designed scenes at the time, eager to hold them in order to discover so much art and invention and not to miss a detail… today we’ve gotten so used to ‘different worlds’ and so superficial in our approach that we need faster stimulation more often, at least more movement within the scenes, different angles, faster cuts.
Yes, this has changed. Time has changed.
The characters? Fantastically chosen. . . each and everyone! Except that, in my view, Deckardt could have shown a bit more strength as a character – at least to balance the absolutely incredible performances of both his enemy (see the short video on “Tears in Rain – Time to Die) – and Rachel (Love Theme).
TEARS IN RAIN
[Roy:]
“I’ve seen things, you people wouldn’t believe, hmmm.
… attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
I’ve watched C Beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate.
All those moments, will be lost in time like tears in rain…”
["... time to die ..."]
Also beautiful those subtle if not humorous pointers indicating or projecting new developments within the story… allowing even the dreamlike appearance of that mythological creature… the unicorn… to be woven seamlessly into the fabric of the film. Magic!
And then… last but not least… what connects it all… then and now and in the future: a terrific flow of great thematic complexity and perfect fusion: the soundtrack by Vangelis. Times may change… this music is eternal and touches us on a level where we are all One. Therefore, it will always transport a feeling of identification in the Now as it’s always the same emotions that create the challenges that shape our Life.
This will not change… and as within all the Chaos there is and will always be the one divine constant that can so wonderfully be translated into music, here’s the LOVE Theme by Vangelis: music translating into pictures without words:
Not surprisingly… and despite initial box failures in the USA, Blade Runner was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Significant is the word – absolutely!
According to the director, Ridley Scott, this was his “… most personal film” – but noone does a movie alone, it’s Teamwork following a Vision, the desire to reach a Dream… and the finished product reflects a culmination of many different people reaching out for Excellence on a personal level as well as for the whole.
I love sincerity of expression and going to and beyond the limits of what you believe in when it comes to Art; for me this is a definite trait of this great classic movie… even today.
If you haven’t seen ‘Blade Runner‘ yet and you are a lover of splendid cinematography, I recommend you do – the bigger the screen the better.
Bianca Gubalke
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Co-Founder of YORGOO, YCADEMY and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.
Author: Bianca Gubalke, Art, Media, Publishing.
This page wasnt working this morning. i tried viewing it but it timed out 4-5 times now but i can access it now. Why did this happen? Am i the only one having this problem?
Hi Yon, thanks for your interest. Well, there can be many reasons, one being that our server was down – which is always a possibility given the load that has to be streamed – or it was on your side. Dona’t worry about it, nothing on the Internet is perfect. I’m glad you could eventually see and read what was of interst to you.
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