Now you can go back to being beautiful.” He’ll be a pig in shit at Aeon Flux.Īeon and her pal Sithandra (Sophie Okenedo) get assigned to leave the “civilian area” of the city and assassinate the handsome devil (Martin Csokas) in charge of all this… well, whatever it is he’s in charge of. A few months ago, Bill Maher expressed his disapproval with the poster of North Country-Theron with her face smudged and hair tied in a kerchief-by announcing, “All right, Charlize, we get it, you can act. If she clearly doesn’t perform the most acrobatic stunts, there’s no non sequitur when she lands-her endless legs spread wide, her palms flat on the ground, her eyes sparkling with amusement. As Aeon Flux (yes, that’s the character’s name), Theron wears a black Spandex stocking with a generous breach for cleavage, and Kusama photographs her as a tantalizing art object: elongated enough to compete with all the impressive modernist columns, and with enough wriggly curves to vanquish them utterly. It’s certainly more fun than a lot of films that get lovingly showcased. A planet-killer.įolks, I’ll never understand studios. Well except for maybe the green star trek chick.You won’t be reading reviews of the dystopian sci-fi flick Aeon Flux (Paramount) in the papers today because it wasn’t screened for the press-and, given that it cost the GDP of a small country and that Charlize Theron and the director, Karyn Kusama ( Girlfight), are critics’ darlings, this could mean but one thing: A stinker. Ladies, if you do that you win hands down. That's about all I have to say, so I'll close by saying we need more women dressing up as Aeon Flux at halloween parties. In all, a very different flavour but still very enjoyable, even if the episodes aren't the brain-teasers we had seen at first. At the same time, some of it became more poetic in a literal sense. The result was more plot driven, linear, humorous at times & random at times. Some of the episodes are still very good-the ones written by Peter Chung-but others were given to different writers who didn't have a clear grasp on the artistic concept. Another big change is that Aeon develops more of a consistent personality and morality (unlike in the shorts where she was an Existentialist to the max). The biggest change is that the characters speak. However when the actual series followed, MTV took more of an active role making changes that weren't always for the best. After the initial 6 shorts comes the Pilot which is also without dialogue and highly expressionistic as well as philosophically jam packed. What's the word I'm looking for? Oh right: bloody freaking whacktastic awesome. After all, what's interesting about political, mathematical & metaphysical themes? The answer: a hot assassin chick in a vinyl bikini with boobs that defy Newton's Laws of Physics, that's what. OK, I'm probably losing some of you, and that's to be expected. The scenes, each exactly 2 sec long, repeat in a scripted sequence that can only be described as mathematical (or as Peter says in the commentary, "musical"). But actually it's a very carefully orchestrated show. In "Tide" we're presented with some seemingly arbitrary, repeating scenes. Other episodes are more abstract but just as deliberate & defined. Tell the people to vote for the Republic and they'll vote for the Republic.") Bloody awesome. I can't help but wonder if Peter Chung was a fan of the 19th century French writer Maupassant ("Tell the people to vote for the Emperor and they'll vote for the Emperor. You can surmise what sort of statement he's making about the act of war & society's attitudes. Without noticing, we start out rooting for the black team, then the white team, back to black, white, black, etc. What Chung does is play on our fickle sympathies to make us change loyalties over & over. In the episode "War", we see a bunch of people killing people, getting killed, and more of the same. I'll give you just one example without really ruining anything. He doesn't always spell out the solution, but he gives some good hints that allow you to appreciate it on its intended philosophical level. I highly recommend watching the short, feeling like an idiot, and then watching it again with Peter's commentary. The best way to describe the shorts is to say they are visual puzzles for us to solve. This is no mere cartoon this is a revolution in storytelling. Essentially all rules are bent, broken, defecated upon and then handed back to us with a hint of Snuggle fabric softener. If at all possible, take it in chronological order since the first 6 shorts are what set the stage. What follows is a guide to getting the full bloody awesomeness out of this experience. I'll spare you the standard review and assume that you've already accepted that Aeon Flux is bloody awesome.
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