after rumination...
(from a text sent to a friend)
its possible I actually really like the movie but just can recognize it right now… in the end he flips it to meta and the idea he presents in that moment is surprisingly hopeful, which is why I didn’t hate the movie… but in that moment he also inadvertently makes the claim that everything we've seen up that point is pointless, a waste of time... and in fact is was.. so its possible the movie is actually very good

[original thoughts]
color of pomegranates for vaguely lsd era confluence of political and “spiritual” awakening ... a pop art spectacular made up religion... I see merit in many of the ideas, especially the souped up commodified modern war machine version of "give up your possessions" but what I reject in it is the zealous abandon of its image making, more often than not I found the bombast boring... the most interesting images include excellent scenes of peaceful protesters being mutilated, the gory effects being done with smashed fruit, birds coming out of bodies, eggs for bullets, etc. and any of the loosely catholic gatherings, but I find alot of the spiritual iconography and ideas to be repurposed without much thought, what ken russell does to british catholicism in the marilyn monroe version in 'tommy' accomplishes some of these ideas in much shorter time ... largely a semi Sadistic boiling down of image as symbol... I would have really disliked it alot it wasn't for the final moments which transition the film from a pessimistic slog of symbol over sanctuary into something partially reassuring in its ethos.. and it only does this by completely denouncing its own practice of image making....