kilgoretrout

V.A.L.I.S. alien satellite broadcasting its "ultimate truth beam" into a night time United States. For original full-res version go directly to: http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj20/bunnyhoover/VALIS-RadioFreeAlbemuth.jpg Or see the nice PDF about the film with this and other pics at http://www.radiofreealbemuth.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/media/Film&Festivals21_RFA_hi.pdf An early "first draft" of the true story about his Dick's Gnostic "psychic vision"/"pink beam brain transmission" , later to be even more stunningly told in his VALIS trilogy, Philip K Dick himself is a character in "Radio Free Albemuth" which is complete (or nearly so) and should soon be in theaters as the most mind-blowing and authentic PKD film adaptation yet. It also features Alison Morriset as rock singer Sylvia, who may well save the world. (You may recall her brief but really brilliant and intense cameo as God in the film"DOGMA" a few years ago, which also featured George Carlin's final film appearance, among other notables. ) Official site.. many great photos... links to other media at sites that are pretty cool in themselves and where you can find alot of other content worth checking out... really nicely beautiful "Dark" & hip web page design.... great example how to do it well: http://www.radiofreealbemuth.com/blog/ Best most in-depth article Ive seen about it, interview with director http://www.dickien.fr/dossiers/johnalansimon/john-alan-simon-2008.html Turns out both the director and star playing main character of the story (the record store clerk, not PKD) have PKD's birthday... a very good omen! Director says there were lots of happy accidents and coincidences, making him feel like the project was being watched over by benificent otherworldly forces. Well I'm not surprised! There is so much PKD stuff around already and also in the works, I wonder if we are in fact all living in some virtual reality or after-death cryonic suspension mind-dream in the distant future from now belonging to someone who wished to be an SF author in our era (see UBIK, another PKD book currently in production). Perhaps we are ALL a part of HIS VR-dream! In UBIK the characters all start noticing weird inexplicable reality modifications referencing the name and life of this guy that is supposed to be dead, kinda like us and PKD now! Also coming soon: The Adjustment Bureau (September 17, starring Mat Damon) Flow My Tears The Policeman Said

Terry Gilliam's latest "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus" Also, "Southland Tales" (from director of Donnie Darko) You MUST see both of these tripping!!!

:clapping: Hey, thanks Afgin! Really really nice! Strongly enhanced my tedious afternoon sitting at the computer writing code. I am going to have to stay late tonight to help the project meet a milestone, and was a little bummed, but this really helped brighten my attitude alot! But too short! I have several hours still to go! Anything else on tap that you can link us to that might help energize things so I can finish and get out and enjoy the beautiful summer evening a bit sooner?

So to highlight this question, added in an edit of the above: Are there any live and/or extended version of When Shall I Be Free or of this record available? Does anyone have any recommendations?

Really? It engages me every time, and then when I get to ...And Nothing Is Lost, leading into When Shall I Be Free and the Stamen Of The Shamen... it puts me into a highly emotional trancelike state... The melancholy piano line at the end of And Nothing Is Lost... totally enrapturing... and When Shall I Be Free is just SO beautiful and moving and deep in my opinion.... Clearly this is the intended centerpiece of the record... I feel it was all composed that way quite deliberately... I think of the whole rest of the album before that as preparing you for this section. The hypnotic slow washes and the repetition of the first line of the lyric over and over, then building and swirling and building and swirling.. the muttered voices... then in a sort of musical orgasm BOOM! the drums and Bass crash in and those glorious circular arabic guitar filligrees! Then there's the couple of terribly sweet bars when the whole background beat and every else drops out at 3:05 except for the vocals in beautiful double-harmony, along with that rolling very Pink Floyd-esque Bass/Guitar unison vamp that then drop-slides down an octave as the lyric is repeated once more, then all the other parts suddenly come back and do their thing till the end. Wow! And Stamen of he Shamen - what a track! That bassline with the Mexican-esque trumpet section floating over top... somehow it all just really clicks together SOOOO perfectly and captures my attention and my heart. And trumpets! Who would have expected trumpets! Highly dramatic as no natural wind instruments have been used up to this point I do not believe, at least not so front-and-center... providing for a great contrast that really tickles our organic neurons after all the electronics. Very surprising to hear no matter how often I listen to it... still totally unexpected, and something about the emotional character of the melodic musical composition here just gives me goosebumps and makes me almost want to cry while at the same time feel very happy. I don't know how to explain it and I don't know how the hell he came up with this, but there it is. It is simultaneously melancholy, fascination-trance, celebratory and so damn FIERCE! all at the same time. Utterly phenomenal and extremely touching. Pure genius. Why these 4 short simple lines of lyric, which is the entire lyric, repeated over and over like a hypnotic mantra (no, not like a mantra, it *IS* a mantra!) giving more proof that some sort of divine inspiration was clearly at work here: When shall I be free? When I shall cease to be. No more I, but we... in perfect harmony What I would give to have been in a big tripping crowd peaking at 2AM at some festival , hearing/seeing this song performed live (hopefully in an extended version? (ARE THERE ANY EXTENDED VERSIONS floating around?)... I bet it would have been a transformative experience like no other!

I am so very sad to see him stop. Right after I just discovered him via the new album so generously given to us free. I think it is brilliant! What a drag! Anyway, fans probably already know about this but it looks like many previous albums, as well as compilations he edited are available to download in multiple formats here: http://www.ektoplazm.com/profiles/jikkenteki/

Did you mean to say THX1138 ??? Yes, you should seek that out, it is quite outstanding.

I disagree. The trips were not just "Oh, wow" visuals that they made then stuck some ad-hoc story around. There WAS meaning and content in them related to the story. I think the plot gave the visuals alot more depth and power. What I wrote above about WHY Blueberry has this "monster" in him... and the appearance of the redemptive, angelic figure near the end, forgiving him... that I thought was so unexpected and absolutely moving, just deeply touching and breathtakingly executed... all of the trip sequences were really preparing you for THAT moment... did no one else notice that? That emotional impact would have been absent if these sequences were just a bunch of wild trippy graphics in a music video. And didn't you notice the SOUND processing and MUSIC during these sequences? It was absolutely stunning, almost as impressive and complex and psychedelic as the visuals. You must not have been paying very close attention... It would have really reduced the impact of the visuals to have heard only some stupid "thump thump thump thump" generic techno track behind these. The connections between the story, the trip visuals, and the soundtrack/music made for one very powerful whole in these sequences. Well, I think the film ended up with a bit of a hybrid. Director Jan Kounen spend a year being given trips by Peruvian shamen before making this, hence the visualizations are like Ayahuasca, which is what the Peruvians use. HOWEVER, that is never explicitly spoken of in the film.... there is brief shot in the film. I think inside a cave where they have perhaps been harvested and stored I guess, of the "Treasure" of the indians.... and in that that shot we CLEARLY see hundreds of PEYOTE cactuses. So explicitly the film is saying it is Peyote... but those who have done them both would say the experiences shown are far more like Ayahuasca than Peyote.

I was wondering about that; well, I'll have to check it out, then. Thanks.

Yea, I watched the DVD at home alone, sound on the stereo turned up.... did a good sized dose of 2C-I, and the whole thing really came together for me... I was blown away to tell the truth... I thought the "bad" parts were just deliberately done that way to be funny as a way of the film poking fun at itself for using the tired out old "Western" genre as a framework. And the trip sequences... OH... MY... GOD... I didn't even know what I was seeing it was so complex. But I could follow the emotional intent of what was happening .I had to watch it again a few days later. But I certainly felt powerfully impacted after it was over. Ignore the German guy (Eddie Izzard) or just see the humor in the character - why do you think they chose a comedian? - ancient Ernest Borgnine's hackneyed overacting - again a deliberate and self-ironical "bad" choice. Straight you just find these elements annoying. Tripping you intuitively understand what the film maker is doing... you feel let "IN" on the joke... and you NOTICE all the little signposts saying "ignore all this Western silliness, this film is really about something much deeper", like how it begins with the Eagle symbolism. The story they are telling is Blueberry's mystery of this horrible dark monster he sees in himself on the first trip, and then his battle with it, through it, to finally see the suppressed truth about what really happened to him those many years ago, which unlocks and releases him, so he is now free of his demon and can be happy at last, all with the aid of the "Treasure" of the Indians, which is not gold (stupid German Banker jerk!) but rather PEYOTE!!!! (although the experiences seem more like what to expect on Ayahuasca). INCIDENTALLY - Jan Kounen, maker of Blueberry in fact has another film: "Other Worlds" that documents Ayahuasca Shamanism... that is the subject of Other Worlds, which also includes some CGI Trip animations. Some info about it and images and I think mabe even clips at Kounen's site: http://jankounen.com Apparently the movie DVD it is hard to find find, you can order from overseas places, it has english subtitles, there is some information here: http://ayahuasca.tribe.net/thread/8965e39d...49-37166584c265 about where you might find it. BONUS: in the middle of the above link there is a LONG writeup from Kounen himself about his experiences with shamen in peru researching for Blueberry, as well as thoughts on the nature of the mind, etc. Pretty interesting.

Well yea, there were some sucky elements to it... some bad acting... some stupid dialogue. Actually there were a couple of other shorter hallucinatory sequences in addition to the main ones, I think... havent seen it for a while... one involving smoking something I think? I like how it starts with the emblem of the spirit journey - the Eagle - flying right in your face then going on an extended flight over some really trippy & spectacular landscapes. Did you get.. SPOILER ALERT! ... how the dead girl's spirit makes an appearance and forgives Blueberry? I thought that was quite unexpected and absolutely beautifully handled, didn't you think? That was really the core of the film... Blueberry has this darkness in him he cannot understand or explain that seems to keep attracting trouble. But his psychedelic experiences finally succeed in unlocking the memories, at which point the above happens, and he is emotionally healed. And at the same time... within that trip somehow his enemy who has vowed to kill him, dies due to whatever happened to him during his trip I guess. THAT is the arc of the story. And it sure seems to me that such an arc is in fact "about" the power of psychedelics to heal one's mind and spirit (or in the case of the bad guy, give him what he deserves). But yea, there was also a bunch of B-grade western stuff in it too.

Nice thread.. if I had more time I would post a few of my own. But given the thread title, I just had to turn folks on to these places... you MUST check out some of the videos (see the sites' store links) that have been made by artists working in "Music Visualization"... some of them look utterly phenomenal http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/ http://www.iotacenter.org/ http://www.soundingvisual.com/visualmusic/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Belson http://www.siggraph.org/artdesign/profile/...ey/whitney.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_music

You are absolutely correct. I just had on my "Professional Film Reviewers" hat, and was acting like big-ass know-it-all who hates everything. Actually I love Altered States, you are right about it being a work of Surrealism, not an attempt to communicate realistic trips. More a poetical allegory of tripping, if that is the right expression. And yes, the trips visualizations really are rather brilliant works of art, made as you point out with only photographic techniques. But I guess it is too "fringe" to ever be released in Blu-Ray, unfortunately.

I have watched many films tripping... usually a moderate dose so I can still follow the story line, more or less, and especially if it is at a theatre so I can deal with all the "normals" easier. But it is not a waste at all. ( I can always trip at home with just music whenever I want) Especially movies with some psychedelic or highly intense aspect to the story, you can really become far more focused and emotionally involved, and it seems more like an experience you had yourself rather than something you just watched remotely on a screen. And you can also better perceive some of the normally hidden details or implications that the director or writer or visual artists put in that would normally go right past you... while tripping these things for some reason seem to highlight themselves to you. But mushrooms are far to reality bending, usually not a good idea... LSD in as I said in only moderate doses. Best thing for this I have found is 2C-I... enhances visual and emotional intensity, without all the side-branching thought processes of other substances. The best is when you can get a ride to an actual theatre with a huge screen and sound system and nice comfy seats you can just sink into... and go at a time when there is likely to be only a few other people in the theatre. Then on a psychedelic a really intense or visual film can be amazing. SIT CLOSE! so that you are totally enveloped in the movie. And you always have the rest of the trip to do other stuff...

Closest thing I could find was in the shop at Jan Kounen's own website (jankounen.com CHECK IT OUT! LOTS OF COOL STUFF!)... a pointer to a 2-disc collectors edition apparently only sold by the French Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000...iteofficielj-21 but it is not Blueray or HD. And unfortunately Altered States is also NOT available Blueray... that would be really nice... some of the trips DO have a phenomenal and hypnotic level of visual detail... like the "Turning Into Sand And Being Blown Away" sequence.... whoa! Bet that would look just stunning on a 60" HD screen in your living room!

Actually I also really enjoy Altered States quite alot, and you are totally correct it is about different things. It's a whole other style of directing/storytelling also. Its more like a cartoon than something about any true experiences that any real person ever had or could have. And I do like cartoons, so cool. The trip sequences are nothing whatsoever like any trips I or anyone else I know have had... there are some common elements, but in general, these are all hyper-gonzo exaggerations of the writer's IDEA of what a trip is, not an attempt at a realistic depiction. That said, they are often cool and fun and beautiful to watch and very well executed, and at times very spooky and powerful. But they are nothing at all like real trips, for the most part. But it IS also pretty silly in some ways, not that there's anything wrong with that. I mean, come on, a guy goes into an isolation tank on a drug, and the power of his mind warps the tank? he jumps out an ape? he turns into a cosmic vortex in the floor of the room? Yea someone could hypothetically hallucinate that sort of thing, but really... NAH... pure make-believe by the writer, these are just not the sort of things that 99.9% of people doing hallucinogens ever experience. And at a conceptual level I disliked the whole idea of taking what would normally be just hallucinations and having them extend out of the guys mind and affect the real world around him. Yea, sounds like a cool comic book sort of story idea, but tripping is really about inner stream-of-consciousness, worldview perspective things... so NOT about just seeing weird shit happen. Also, the execution left me as an experienced voyager pretty cold. I had a hard time becoming emotionally involved in those parts because I knew that's nothing like what really happens inside your mind on real trips... it is the hypothetical IDEA of some director who never had the guts to do more than smoke a little weed fantasized up as a special-effects showcase to put in a film, and as a viewer that just put me at a huge distance from any sort of engagement with the characters or what was happening to them. Like watching a film of a puppet show on a TV through a department store glass window. Hmmm.. Curious. Well that's bizarre... OK time to move on, no reason to keep looking, doesn't mean much, couldn't care less. And also, I worry about people who are genuinely interested in psychedelics and contemplating trying them being sold such a misleading pile of images and ideas by a film that would SEEM to telling them "Hey kids, this is what tripping is like." WRONG! Utter complete bullshit from that perspective. Whereas the psychedelic sequences in Renegade/Blueberry are clearly designed by some skilled artists who very obviously have done alot of these drugs themselves and put much deep and careful thought what the visuals ought to look like, with the lofty motive of expressing something on film that would give viewers SOME multifaceted sense or feel of what it is ACTUALLY LIKE- both the SEEING and the FEELING - to take these substances. Of course there is also a good helping of hyperbole here as well, to spice things up, but by and large a much more true to life depiction of something pretty close to what one could expect to experience in their mind on very large doses of Ayahuasca, Mescaline, and/or DMT. Hence, Renegade to me is *THE* "Real psychedelic movie," best ever made by far, while Altered States just does not make the grade, though still alot of fun and well worth watching... some really wonderful psychobabble... and outstanding/hilarious/wonderful mad-scientist portayal by a very entertainingly over-the-top William Hurt... as long as you understand what you are getting.

HA!! Yes indeed, that's the one. It's so funny because I can imagine your average Western fan buying or renting this, based on the description and the cover which is also very traditional-looking... NOTHING whatsoever about drugs hehe - only to be thrust into these experiences, that to some really straight "dude" who never did anything like that would probably be quite shocking and frightening... the realization that their comfortable little workaday mindset is soooo miniscule, and that the human mind is even capable these astonishing overlapping cosmic vistas of awareness, would probably leave some people not expecting it with puddles of sweat in their cowboy boots by the time the film is over. Oh, a couple bonuses - Sheriff played by Ernest Borgnine ("OMG! is that really...???" lol), as well as Prosit being played by Eddie Izzard, one of my very favorite wierdo comedians who I have seen on TV do some utterly genius standup sets.

This film is called "Renegade" in the US. It contains like 4 psychedelic trips, each more incredible than the last. The most complex, and more importantly, most realistic and most deeply felt depiction of strong psychedelic experiences EVER put to film, bar none. This one just blows every other attempt out of the water. Makes "Altered States" look silly, ridiculous, amateurish, and pompous. The director vanished into the jungles of South America for a YEAR before making this, much to the worry of his colleagues. While there he lived with the descendants of tribal shamen and they took him on many very deep psychedelic & spiritual voyages. The result is Blueberry/Renegade. DO NOT SPOIL THE FILM AND WATCH ANY OF THE TRIP SEQUENCES YOU CAN FIND ON THE NET!!! Visual quality is of course really lousy, but worse, you will RUIN the overwhelmingly powerful impact these sequences have on the viewer when seen in context of the film... they are each very much a part of the story, and the whole thing leads to a mind-blowing cosmic catharsis that must be seen to be believed. Buy the DVD, consume the entheogen of your choice, when it starts to take effect, put this film on the wide-screen, crank up the surround sound, dim the lights, and prepare be to emerge a changed person... seriously! I could not stop thinking about this film for days after I first saw it. And I was SOOO glad I deliberately avoided spoiling it by looking at crappy little web videos of the trips beforehand. Seeing these incredible visions in context as very carefully designed by the filmmakers for the first time my eyes were wide with amazement and my jaw was on the floor... I think a few times I even heard myself say out loud quite unintentionally "Oh my fucking god!"

Yea, I totally agree. Listened to the track Probability Tree again, and I am not sure how I did not notice its arresting and hypnotic wonderfulness on previous listens, but you are right, it is a rather brilliant piece of music. Extremely original... I cannot recall ever hearing anything else remotely similar - it creates a highly charged and provocative atmosphere while also being rather laid back at the same time... a unique, fascinating, and entrancing blend of simultaneous moods and feelings. I love how it sounds very, um, "determined", "ernest", "deliberate", "powerful" as it goes about its way. Makes me feel very FIERCE on the inside! And yep, Even The Stones Sing is also very intense.

Oh, and absolutely, "Apollo" is a must-have.... prototype space ambient that is also some of the most beautiful and atmospheric music ever made. Cannot possibly be topped.

ALSO: You MUST hear "Wrong Way Up", which Eno and John Cale did together. The songs "Lay My Love" and "Spinning Away" are masterpieces that send me into total ecstasy and are worth the price of the record alone. Just thinking about these tunes and I am getting scalp tingles again.... pure magic. LAY MY LOVE I am the crow of desperation I need no fact or validation I spin relentless variation I scramble in the dust of a failing nation I was concealed Now I am stirring And I have waited for this time. I am the termite of temptation I multiply and fly my population I am the wheel I am the turning And I will lay my love around you. I am the sea of permutation I live beyond interpretation I scramble all the names and the combinations penetrate the walls of explanation I am the will I am the burning And I will lay my love around you. I am the will I am the yearning And I will lay my love around you. SPINNING AWAY Up on a hill, as the day dissolves With my pencil turning moments into line High above in the violet sky A silent silver plane - it draws a golden chain One by one, all the stars appear As the great winds of the planet spiral in Spinning away, like the night sky at Arles In the million insect storm, the constellations form On a hill, under a raven sky I have no idea exactly what I've drawn Some kind of change, some kind of spinning away With every single line moving further out in time And now as the pale moon rides (in the stars) Her form in my pale blue lines (in the stars) And there, as the world rolls round (in the stars) I draw, but the lines move round (in the stars) There, as the great wheels blaze (in the stars) I draw, but my drawing fades (in the stars) And now, as the old sun dies (in the stars) I draw, and the four winds sigh (in the stars)

YES! There is something very very special about the song "Strange Overtones" It is some sort of very strong quasi-magical anti-depressant effect on me , perhaps because of the subliminal implications of the lyrics? Or maybe something about the say the chord changes are structured. Anyway this is utterly brilliant music by true genius composers, not just some twenty-something with a keyboard who knows how to make some kinda-fun sounding trance junk You can listen to the ENTIRE! original album (not just samples) AND the new LIVE EP ... in high quality stereo! ... made recently on tour, The latter including new live performaces of "Help Me Somebody" from My Life In The bush Of Ghosts. HERE: http://www.everythingthathappens.com/ *** I RECOMMEND LISTENING FIRST TO THE -ALBUM- (not live) VERSION OF STRANGE OVERTONES... A COUPLE TIMES... THEN IT WILL START TO CAUSE THE RELEASE OF ENDORPHINS AFTER YOU HAVE GOTTEN YOUR BRAIN HOOKED ON ITS HOOKS!!! And add "My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts" (Daivd Byrne & Brian Eno) to your #1 MUST HAVE list. That one record just totally blew everyone's minds to kindom come when it came out.. pretty much invented sampling, hip-hop, multi-ethnic mash-ups, etc. etc. Seiously. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Life_in_th..._Ghosts_(album)

You know, there are real people behind the posts here, not some simulacrum. A little consideration and less rudeness please? Maybe all you needed to say was "I will be posting a more detailed review soon, so please watch for it" Calling the thread-starter "very lame" with a big ol frowny face is, well, just mean. At least he went throught the effort to start the thread, find (maybe even scan) the graphics and spend what time he could to write a few words about his initial thoughts. Lets try to treat each other as friends, M'KAY?

Thanks for mentioning the Campbell/Apocalypto connection... you are right... just google [apocalypto "joseph campbell"]. Though most are just one-word references in passing; none delve even as much as a sentance or half a sentance on the topic, let alone actually attempt to explain HOW the film's story is connected to Campbells Canonical Hero ideas as I have tried to. If you know of links to any more than single word references to "Campbell" in any article on Apocalypto PLEASE I BEG you post them, I would be VERY VERY fascinated and eager to read them. Thanks! Actually here is one that is at least a full sentance: http://justinsmoviereviews.blogspot.com/20...apocalypto.html (Campbell reference is in a readers comment at the end) And I did not plaguerize the concept of this connection if that is your point. Actually I was very familiar with Campbell (and the Star Wars connection) for quite some time, having watched Bill Moyers great great great multimedia set of interviews with Campbell when they first aired on PBS ages ago. This film affected me like no other... I could think about nothing else for days. Trying to figure out why... the connection to Campbell's Hero's Journey template sprung to mind suddenly one day and I knew that was the answer. Sorry to go so far out on a limb off-topic; but...... RE: name - "Kilgore Trout" is of course the bizzare but utterly brilliant Science Fiction author who keeps popping up in one way after another in many of the novels and stories of the late (...and so it goes...) Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (whom I believe may well have been a reincarnation of Samuel Clemes aka Mark Twain). Many of Trout's ideas focus on alternate ideas and explanations about What Exactly Is *REALLY* Going On Here / where did we come from / what are we REALLY, etc. His swan song is in the outstanding, now considered classic of Americal literature, Breakfast of Champions, which Vonnegut intended as his sort of farwell to the character... alas he could not get rid of him and he did appear again. He is played in the incredibly overlooked (and highly over criticised) film of the book with a phenomenal cast starring: Bruce Willis ... Dwayne Hoover (apart from Sixth Sense the best acting job he ever did) Albert Finney ... Kilgore Trout (BRILLIANT performance... very nuanced and touching) Nick Nolte ... Harry Le Sabre (some of the most hilarious moments I ever saw in a film from him here) Barbara Hershey ... Celia Hoover Lukas Haas ... George 'Bunny' Hoover (creates a wonderful vibe) Omar Epps ... Wayne Hoobler (also one of the funniest things I have ever seen) Vicki Lewis ... Grace Le Sabre (perfect in this) Buck Henry ... Fred T. Barry (also fits in flawlessly) Jake Johannsen ... Bill Bailey Will Patton ... Moe the Truck Driver Owen Wilson ... Monte Rapid It is one of my favorite movies... most of the severe dislike in some reviews come from people who worship the book and are upset the film is not exactly like it. Or they just did not "get it". But there are also a pretty good number of complete opposite reviews that really really praise and love the film, as I do... it is absolutely hilarious, wise, knowing, compassionate, touching, and otherworldly. Is is quite a trip (especially if you are mentally altered in any way). Vonnegut, who has a cameo in the film as the Director of a live TV spot by Dwayne Hoover gone disasterously wrong featuring an escalatingly unhinged Willis. Vonnegut has said he likes the film alot, but it is so different from his book that he has to consider it a totally different work that was inspired by his book. Very wise outlook. Filled with hints and innuendoes to other things. Since this is a board about music, I will mention that the film features a wonderful sountrack, perfectly used, consisting mostly of cuts from 1950s & 196s Exotica genre bands, like Martin Denny, Les Baxter, many others. Plus fill-in and other music by new age star Mark Isham. One recurring theme in a wide variety of styles is the song "Stranger In Paradise", which is from the broadway musical "Kismet", but whose main melody is from the opera "Prince Igor" by Borodin, by the way. Borodin claimed that this melody ("Polovetsian Dances") was an ancient, mystical pagan melody from Russian pre-history, and it certainly does have a strangely beguiling and hypnotic effect on the mind... "Stranger In Paradise" is one of the most recorded songs in history, with a rendition count that must be approaching 50 or more. See a little more about the song at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_In_Paradise. As an example of the kind of visual cross-referencing for "those in the know" the director does is that at one point Trout goes into a dilapidated former theatre now a porn store called in a prominent shot of the marquee in HUGE neon lettering "KISMET", which I guess was the last show to be put up in the building's former life before it shut down... and on another part of the marquee can be seen in lettering now all akimbo: "st anger in aradise" A detailed analysis of the use of "Stranger In Paradise" in the film by me can be seen at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120618/board/...760595#71760595

Boy, what a cynic you are. Believe me I am no Pollyanna (in fact I am quite cynical about those seeking power, control, and wealth) but I am convinced that Gibson's intent with this film was to try and make the viewer feel they ARE Tiger Paw, and share in his awakening of "The Power Of My Jungle" that lived within himself. The other aspects of the story and setting were just a framework that he could use to accomplish this. The intent had nothing to do with some histrionic attempt to induce some cultural guilt. You are so damn French. That sort of motive would be very unlike Gibson. And in general I dislike Gibson... I despised his "Passion of the Christ" film.... one long sadomasochistic gore-triip. hate almost all his other movies as actor or director. But in Apocalypto I think his motives were almost entirely to instigate the whole feeling of "the heroe's unification with the world" sensation in the heart and mind of the viewer... he could have set such a story in any number of times and places, but chose this because it was SO intensely strange and otherworldly and this increased its hypnitic power over the viewer. So, murphythe cat: DID YOU SEE THIS MOVIE??? Not trailers, not read reviews, but sit and view the film yourself from start to end?