What the bleep do I know?
Oct. 6th, 2004 10:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poltr1As alluded earlier....On Monday night, I saw the movie What the #$*! Do We Know?! at the Little Art Theatre in Yellow Springs, Ohio with the men from my I-Group.
The theatre was rather crowded that night. Apparently it's getting a lot of buzz. I saw old friends Rich and Rosa there, whom I knew from the local Mensa chapter. I used to work with their daughter, Marisa, so I asked how she was. (She's still out in California, unemployed.)
The movie defies the typical movie genres. The best I can do is call it an educational documentary. I'd expect to find this on PBS or TLC or the Science Channel late one night.
The main story is about Amanda, a divorced woman who works as a photographer and is assigned to do a wedding, and how her life changes after the wedding party. Amanda is played by Marlee Maitlin -- still a babe in my book. Intercut with the action are interviews with various scientists and spiritual people, and computer-generated imagery. The topic moves fluidly from quantum physics to the nature of God to physiology to creating an infinite number of possibilities.
Some of my favorite scenes from the movie:
- The scene on the basketball court with the young kid. When Amanda asks how he knows all this stuff, he pulls out a "Dr. Quantum" comic book from his back pocket.
- The electron-microscope pictures of the water molecules on display in a train station. (These pictures were taken by a Japanese scientist whose name I forgot.) If the water is given positive messages, or blessed by a Buddhist monk, the molecules apear to be crystalline-shaped, like snowflakes. If the water is given negative messages or no messages, the molocules don't have any form. I found this fascinating.
- The wedding reception. Intercut with the reception scenes are CGI "blobs" representing emotions. Early on is CGI showing the brain and hypothalamus, the peptides it produces, and the receptor cells which fit the receptor cells like locks and keys. A later CGI scene shows several red blobs re-enacting the video to Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love".
I recognized some of the music in the soundtrack, including Chris Franke's "Inside the Morphing Space" and "Forgiveness" by Patrick O'Hearn, along with the dance numbers played at the wedding reception. One of the scientists in the movie is Dr. John Hagelin, best known as the presidential candidate for the Natural Law Party in 1996 and in 2000. Although there's no mention of that in the film.
The film is getting a lot of support from the various communities involved in personal growth and transformation. Some of it may be a bit too new-agey for some. And if you're expecting an action film, a comedy, a drama, or a romance, this isn't it.
For me, the movie was one of the more thought-provoking movies I've ever seen. My mind hasn't been challenged this way by a movie since I first saw Koyaanisqatsi.
Distribution is still miniscule. It's currently making the run in art-film theatres around the world. Check the website to see when it's playing near you.
The theatre was rather crowded that night. Apparently it's getting a lot of buzz. I saw old friends Rich and Rosa there, whom I knew from the local Mensa chapter. I used to work with their daughter, Marisa, so I asked how she was. (She's still out in California, unemployed.)
The movie defies the typical movie genres. The best I can do is call it an educational documentary. I'd expect to find this on PBS or TLC or the Science Channel late one night.
The main story is about Amanda, a divorced woman who works as a photographer and is assigned to do a wedding, and how her life changes after the wedding party. Amanda is played by Marlee Maitlin -- still a babe in my book. Intercut with the action are interviews with various scientists and spiritual people, and computer-generated imagery. The topic moves fluidly from quantum physics to the nature of God to physiology to creating an infinite number of possibilities.
Some of my favorite scenes from the movie:
- The scene on the basketball court with the young kid. When Amanda asks how he knows all this stuff, he pulls out a "Dr. Quantum" comic book from his back pocket.
- The electron-microscope pictures of the water molecules on display in a train station. (These pictures were taken by a Japanese scientist whose name I forgot.) If the water is given positive messages, or blessed by a Buddhist monk, the molecules apear to be crystalline-shaped, like snowflakes. If the water is given negative messages or no messages, the molocules don't have any form. I found this fascinating.
- The wedding reception. Intercut with the reception scenes are CGI "blobs" representing emotions. Early on is CGI showing the brain and hypothalamus, the peptides it produces, and the receptor cells which fit the receptor cells like locks and keys. A later CGI scene shows several red blobs re-enacting the video to Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love".
I recognized some of the music in the soundtrack, including Chris Franke's "Inside the Morphing Space" and "Forgiveness" by Patrick O'Hearn, along with the dance numbers played at the wedding reception. One of the scientists in the movie is Dr. John Hagelin, best known as the presidential candidate for the Natural Law Party in 1996 and in 2000. Although there's no mention of that in the film.
The film is getting a lot of support from the various communities involved in personal growth and transformation. Some of it may be a bit too new-agey for some. And if you're expecting an action film, a comedy, a drama, or a romance, this isn't it.
For me, the movie was one of the more thought-provoking movies I've ever seen. My mind hasn't been challenged this way by a movie since I first saw Koyaanisqatsi.
Distribution is still miniscule. It's currently making the run in art-film theatres around the world. Check the website to see when it's playing near you.
