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🎙️ EPISODE 322: 02.16.2021
David Cronenberg's 1969 debut feature is basically a whole shit ton of stoner-ass gobbledegook narrated over some beautifully fantastic and interesting black and white footage. Not so much about the story or any story–fragments of A story perhaps. It's more about crafting a surreal vibe, and at just north of sixty minutes long, it aims to appear and function as a segment of a larger unseen and, in reality, unmade work. Also, Stereo is ostensibly an early faux-doc, not necessarily a mockumentary but an experimental film playing with that convention as a guideline. This isn't to say that any of it's pointless, however. What would morph into and become hallmarks of Cronenberg's style and themes are evident, from early body horror allusions to the power of and over the human mind. The absence of any audio aside from a persistent hiss in between the narration is a deliberate choice which adds to the dystopia discord. OR... silence because the Bolex camera Cronenberg was using made too much noise. Which leads me back to the narration. |
It's clearly not trying to take itself too seriously, functioning as a parody of academic jargon, spoken by several different voices. But it's still the only working thread the viewer has to make sense of anything, and there does seem to be a tactical disconnect between it and the images onscreen. Some of the narrators come off a tad wishy-washy, too absorbed with some idea of a character that isn't a real part of the plot, again... if there
is a plot.
In the end,
Stereo is still worth your time, in my opinion. Edited and photographed by Cronenberg, in addition to his writer-director duties, it's a lovely peek into the artistic process of someone who would go on to become a master of the form.
𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 1st 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏
𝙲𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚗𝚋𝚞𝚛𝚐 – 𝚖𝚢 𝚌𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑/𝚛𝚎𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚏 𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚍 𝙲𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚗𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚐'𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚑𝚢. 𝙲𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚔
𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎...
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