The Atrocity Exhibition

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Audience Member When deciding on which J.G. Ballard novel to turn into a movie, try not to pick the really experimental one with no plot. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member A gripping, mesmerizing, but ultimately empty adaptation of Ballard's novel of the same name, this film belongs under the "Good Try, Tough Material" category. While beautifully photographed and extensively plotted, it seems that in trying to faithfully, dutifully recreate Ballard's trite prose the film makers sacrificed the emotional resonance of it all. One of the biggest flaws -- and what may have been entirely unavoidable -- is that in presenting this book as a film it substantially degrades Ballard's internalization of the media, as film is media, so the viewer is left with harrowing imagery for most of the movie but little else; whereas in Ballard's book, a few words on a piece of paper engage the reader's imagination; in short, the film is the interpretation of someone else, whereas in reading the book the interpretation is entirely his/her own. I would still recommend this film to Ballard fans, as it by far is the most faithful adaptation of any of his books, so far. Jonathan Weiss is to be commended for his attempt here, as I doubt many other directors could have done a better job with such difficult source material. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member really strange stuff...tried a little too hard to be cerebral. Overall an enjoyable and trippy experience. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Not entirely successful in adapting the very non-narrative book, but what film of this could be? About as close as you could get, however. I would advise reading the book beforehand and looking at this as a very full supplement. Definitely worth watching, in any event. Not for those who are easily disturbed(more for its general tone; the title is actually a reference to Ballard's metaphor for life itself, not an indication of gore or anything) or averse to experimental film. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member This was odd. Really, really odd. It felt as though Jonathan Weiss was trying to redefine the way films are made. He took a more artisitic stance. Obviously, this meant that the plot was useless. I just didn't get it. I tried to over analyse everything (which felt like what the film intended you to do). However, I think this is why I didn't like it. It just did not make sense to me. Odd. Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Found this from a film blog mentioning it after all these years..Pretensious but the unknown lead acterss is cute..Not the worst 100 minutes spent.But don't watch tired Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Atrocity Exhibition

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