Saturday, May 25, 2013

El ÀNGEL EXTERMINADOR - Luis Buñuel -"The Exterminating Angel" (1962)

Welcome to the Surrealistic Saturday Night Especial, deep, deep down here in The Dungeon!

"El Angel Exterminador" aka "The Exterminating Angel" is a masterpiece of uneasy-happy-sad-abstract poetic weirdness by Señor Luis Buñuel that might have been one of the the first movies to ever make a film critic utter those famous words, "WTF!?" I wouldn't recommend watching this film stoned, it might cause permanent damage to your otherwise delicate psyche!

It all starts off innocent enough. It's just a get together of a bunch of rich folks after a night at the opera!

They don't get much further than past the front door when you're going to realize that something ain't quite right here! The film loops or hiccups, and you are going to immediately think something is wrong with the DVD you're watching, but that's not it at all, there's something wrong with the mind of the man who made this film, Luis Buñuel, and this isn't going to be the only time it happens!!!

Most of the hired help has already left the building for some unknown reasons, and one of the two guys left, trips as he is getting ready to serve what appears to be stones, gems, and/or hard-cooked tofu!

No, but Mr. Buñuel does!!

Understatements, understatements, and MORE understatements!! Something strange? Really?

I read that Luis Buñuel decided to introduce bears and sheep to the party after having experienced a similar event in New York!

After dinner, there's a short piano concerto and this one attendee appears to carry around chicken feet in her clutch bag! You know, just normal routine stuff!

Well, the next thing you know, it's four o'clock in the morning, and for some unforeseen reason, no one has yet left the party, and in fact, they are all just crashing out all over the place like a bunch of hippies!

Disheveled and confused, these wealthy people wake up to find out that in anti-reality they aren't any better than anyone else, and Luis Buñuel is just getting ready to rub their snooty noses into it, and it's not going to smell good!

And so it goes for a number of days, and when there is nothing left to differentiate the wealthy from the poor, confusion reigns supreme!

The authorities and the media stand around outside also dumbfounded as to why the inhabitants can not leave the building, and are also helpless in their ability to do anything about it! Buñuel, of course will always be remembered for the 1929 short he made with one of the best artistes of all time, Salvador Dali entitled "Un Chien Andalou" or "An Andalusian Dog," that featured a gut wrenching, razor blade, eye slitting scene that can not be forgotten if you've ever seen it, but my favourite Buñuel film will always be the comedic "That Obscure Object Of Desire" made in 1977!

They break into a wall and manage to get some fresh water, and when the sheep show back up, they have quite a barbeque instead of starving to death!

When you're real hungry, paper makes a good substitute for food! Some salsa might help to make it go down a little easier though!

After a couple of days and nights of this bullshit, it's time for homie to break out his hidden stash of drugs!

A severed hand joins the party!

Yes Indeed, you either don't understand surrealism or you don't!

Finally, this gal realizes that they are all in the same place that they were when the first piano performance happened, so they all try and recreate their original positions, and bigger than shit, just the way Elvis would do it, they can now leave the building!

When it's all said and done, there is still violence raging in the streets, and all the sheep head back into the church, just like you would expect it to happen!

I was just tripping coming home tonight and thinking how interesting it would be if eating establishments had names like horror blogs. Things like "The Burger Dungeon," "The Crypt Of Waffles," "The Fried Chicken Chamber," or "The Vault Of Tacos!" Sound far fetched, you just might be surprised at what the future has in store! Remember, you read it here first!


MDG14450 said...

Great to see some live for Bunuel here. He's one of my favorites, and I recently re watched this one (as well as That Obscure Object of Desire).

Surprised that you neglected to mention that the doctor in Exterminating Angel was also in Santo vs. the Vampire Women.

Eegah!! said...

Thanx MDG, but actually I neglected naming any of the players except Buñuel, just getting lazy in my old age!

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