Film review: ‘AFTER BLUE’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
French film, After Blue is one of the weirdest movies of the year and one that shows that weirdness alone does not necessarily equal fascinating art or entertainment.
In what might be glibly dubbed eco-feminist science fiction, it’s set in a future where humanity has fled an environmentally devastated Earth to the planet, After Blue where only women have survived its unusual atmosphere. To try to avoid the mistakes that led to earth’s demise, After Blue’s inhabitants have placed stringent restrictions on themselves with bans on science, technology and industrialisation. This is no pastoral feminine utopia, however, as society is still riven by prejudices, destructive beliefs and sexual repression.
When the sensitive and introverted Roxy (Paula Luna) who is bullied by the community’s malevolent alpha females, saves the life of a mysterious woman, who strangely enough, is named Kate Bush, she unleashes previously unknown sexual desires and destruction in the community. Banished along with her mother, Roxy is forced to trek across the treacherous planet to find the enigmatic and dangerous Kate. With its slow pace, lack of drama, oddball dialogue and over-the-top acting, this film is, at over two hours, a test of patience. It’s neither an exciting adventure, compelling piece of scientific speculation nor a particularly meaningful journey for the characters and the audience.
After Blue is, however, one of the more unusual looking films of recent times. Bathed in lurid psychedelic colours and featuring deliberately artificial looking sets that are inexplicably dusted in glitter and contain giant plants provocatively dripping with gloop, it resembles an experimental film from the late ‘60’s with touches of Barbarella, Flash Gordon and the works of 80’s provocateur Peter Greenaway. For all its oddness, though, the budget restrictions show and the film lacks a sense of space and expansiveness as we’re constantly aware that we’re watching people traipsing across a set or at least the same piece of forest.
For all its pitfalls and limitations, though, After Blue is at least interesting as a deliberate affront to the tradition of male-dominated sci fi and adventure films. There’s only one male of sorts in this film, a kind of pleasure robot named Olgar who has squid tentacles for a penis and looks a little like Lucius Malfoy from the Harry Potter films but is also reminiscent of Pigar the angel from Barbarella. Whether this film says anything particularly profound about feminism and gender relations is up for discussion but the overtly female nature of this film (despite a male writer and director, Bertrand Mandico) is at least strikingly different to most films in the genre.
Ultimately, though, After Blue feels like an ambitious but misguided student film. The story isn’t convincing, intriguing or disturbing enough to hold our interest nor is it artistically clever enough to work simply as an immersive sensory experience.
Nick’s rating: **1/2
Genre: Drama/ Action/ Adventure/ Animation.
Classification: MA15+.
Director(s): Bertrand Mandico.
Release date: 11th June 2022.
Running time: 130 mins.
Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm right here on 88.3 Southern FM. Nick can also be heard on “The Good, The Bad, The Ugly Film Show” podcast. http://subcultureentertainment.com/2014/02/the-good-the-bad-the-ugly-film-show