film review: Re:vision - Apocalypse II

Re:vision - Apocalypse II by Edwin Brienen

New film by Dutch independent filmmaker Edwin Brienen. As always with Brienen films this film is made with about no budget. It shows but it also means it has charm. Also it is the style of Brienen. At the first screening he complained about the VHS quality due to the equipment at the theatre, but I liked it that the film had this lo-fi and real low budget flair.

Anyway the film is about the end… that is why the subtitle is Apocalypse… the two is there as it not only about the Biblical end… the film is telling the story on two levels. One a contemporary political Armageddon (this is the two I guess), the other is the traditional one as we know from the Book Of Revelations. The political one is displayed in the realistic and raw style of Brienen. You know the dril… sex and violence as it dominates our daily lives… brought to life through the persons in the film.

For the Biblical part Brienen has choosen a more surrealistic way of telling the story. You get shots in between the regular scenes of a magician, a singing bartender and some ultra lo-fi black and white big pixel shots like dream sequences.
In general I like the film but the surrealistic part was very Lynch like feeling for me. On the other hand the realistic part had some dialogues I did not like… it was a bit too easy for my… I mean we all know about the New World Order, George W. Bush and 9-11 about now… the theme could have been dealt with in a less obvious way.

Still the way of telling the story I liked a lot. The fragmented story line, the mood and feeling and truly outstanding is the editing on the music. You can see Brienen has been doing videoclips too. Vincent Koreman (RA-X, Travoltas and Speedboat FC to just name a few of his projects) is responsible for most of the music. In this case with his trash metal project The House Of Destructo. Due to fact that the songs throughout the film are mostly sung by the bartender (also the devil?) you can also watch Revision – Apocalypse II as a musical.

And, from this point of view the film is the most successful and interesting. The surrealism is most effective if these song sequences are seen as the main storyline. Next to that I would consider the film the most original if seen as a trash metal musical on the end of the world theme. Much more original then as I would consider this film a normal feature film. Style and content make the most sense from the musical perspective.

The film is screened at the Dutch Film Festival In Utrecht (september 2010) for the first time. It should be out on DVD later... Here is a teaser...