j-horror-fan-80
I saw this film in the late 1980's on the TV program "Night Flight" which aired every Friday and Saturday night on the USA Network. It made a very big impression on me as it was a much more sober film than a lot of the film fare from the genre in that era.Set in the aftermath of a devastating global war, the world is now run by a supercomputer known as 'The Beast'. When this computer begins exhibiting some aberrant behavior, a scientist named Melody who works with 'The Beast' must investigate and the heart of the story begins to bloom.This film grapples philosophical matters as elegantly, but in a slightly different manner, as Blade Runner (based on the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick). However, this film does have some of the same Philip K. Dick style questions about the human condition: Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose? What does it mean to exist? If you can track a copy of this film down, please do. I have not seen it since 1988 and I still remember it fondly.One final note, I have heard there is a version of this film out without subtitles. The majority of the film is in English but their are interludes in French and the version that I saw had the subtitles. So, one needs not be fluent in French to enjoy these subtle touches to the film.
Robert Collins
I saw this on Mexican TV back around 1990, it seemed already old then and looked like it didn't have much money. The story intrigued and many moments stayed with me long past a casual viewing experience. The completely unknown cast worked well.This was probably a bit of an arty pre-new age answer to "The Forbin Project" (sp)meets "Contact" (the former of which dates around the same time). I've scanned e-bay etc and could never find a copy -guess it was pre-DVD. Hope the intriguing sometimes funny little film gets dusted off and re-released,(or given a lot of the drek passing for science fiction, it could prove worth a revisit with more money.
Charles B. Owen
It has been many years since I saw this film on "USA Up All Night" (with Gilbert Gotfried at that time, I believe) and I would love to see it again. It's a moody SF show with some startling visuals (the plane wreckage), some cheesy effects (the planet control center and Einstein), and a plodding feel to it that elicits a strong feeling of tension. However, what I remember the most about it was that it moved back and forth between French and English very quickly and with no subtitles, but someone who only knows English could understand it just fine. This really contributed to the other-worldly feel of the movie.I'm not sure how it got an 8.1 here, I would rate it more around the 5-6 range. But, I would like to see it again if I could.
