07 January 2012

Film: 'Microcosmos' (1996)

Cinematography: Doubleplusgood.
Narration: N/A (= fail).
Soundtrack: WTF?!

I hate nature documentaries. Nature is supercool, generally speaking, but the makers of these wretched pieces of work have an incredible penchant for stripping all semblance of meaning from the natural world. This one is no exception. Though filmed in impressive and often beautiful (and sometimes incredibly disgusting) close-up detail, the almost total lack of narration means that one spends the whole film going "but why are those bugs fighting?" "but WHY are the caterpillars marching in lines, is someone about to snort them or something?" "what is that thing?" 
The soundtrack is nothing short of execrable. It sounds as if they remixed a really awful early-20th-century opera with Tom Waits' worst drunken moments and also a gentrified circus side show.
Highlight: a pheasant eating ants. 

This film would probably be perfect if you projected it on the ceiling during a party and spiked the punch with LSD.













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