Movie: The Mindscape of Alan Moore ( author of Watchmen, From Hell, etc)

[Dr Fate]

The Mindscape of Alan Moore
DeZ Vylenz and Moritz Winkler, directors
UK 80minutes

The artist as contemporary shaman who has the power to transform consciousness by means of manipulating language, symbols and words. The film brings the audience on an exploration of the critically acclaimed and admired comics writer Alan Moore. Moving from his background to the early stages of his career up to his immersion in a magical worldview where science, spirituality and society are part of the same universe.


http://www.sfworldfilmfestival.com/festival.html#19

I saw it last night and met one of the film makers- It is bascially a long interview with the man- there are also Live-action mini-scenes from V For Vendetta, the Watchman, and others...

The last half of the movie is basically philosphy, spiritualism and science from Moore's POV...

Very cool- the audience liked it, even my girlfriend who has never read a comic thought he was a neat guy...

The movie does not have a distributor yet, and I believe last night was the premier...

[Dr Fate]

1. Kick for comic geeks...

...

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. Cool.

Need to see this when/if it comes to Atlanta. Moore's the only writer in the comics field I can think of who deserves the label "genius". Sure, Neil Gaiman and Warren Ellis and Frank Miller and so on are good, but it's kind of hard to imagine them without Moore coming first.

Just re-read "Watchmen"...think a re-reading of "From Hell" is next.

[Dr Fate]

3. Moore hates the "genius" label (even though it is true!)

He discusses that in the movie as well- He is one dude who, despite what you may have thought, has his feet pretty firmly planted in reality- he came across a lot more humble than I would have imagined...

For me, his "genius" is his transformation of comicbook pop-culture icons into archetypal modern myths- symbols of human condition similar to ancient pantheon of Gods...

"From Hell" is unbelievable- I've done a lot of Ripper research, and Moore's use of the Ripper facts/mythos is by far the most entertaining...not to mention he gets a lot of the facts of the case right...

I'm not a huge Miller fan, I always get a right-wing vibe from his stuff...

[Spider Jerusalem]

4. Yeah...

Moore is responsible for almost single-handedly changing the medium. Comics can pretty much be divided into 2 major eras: before "Watchmen", and after...his work has been amazingly influential, especially in the superhero genre...(hell, Mark Waid ripped off a proposal Moore made to DC and turned it into "Kingdom Come"...)

And I knew Moore wasn't an arrogant bastard...heh...guy still lives in the same relatively small town he was born in, which says something...

[Dr Fate]

5. I think that a lot of what came after Moore misses the point though...

Somthing he tried to correct with the "nostalgia on acid" of "1963" and "Supreme"...( I highly recommned both if you have not read them)...

The last thing he wanted was for "The Watchmen" to cause comics to be cynical and violent for cynacism and violence's sake...(he states in the movie that "Watchmen" basically ruined comics for years afterwards) which is what occurred, and in my opinion, the misinterpretation took a lot of the child-like magic and fun out of the genre...

I view the "Watchmen" as a totally traditional, even nostalgic piece- the basic characters and story line are not the innovations( in fact, they are just familiar archetypes)- but- and I am stating the obvious- the human and emotional element he added...To me he was not presenting what comics "should be", but what they can be and what they already are when they are at their best- a blend of myth/nostalgia, mystery, tradegy, humanity and hope...in other words, basic storytelling...

In my opinion, Moore's followers took the violence and the cynicism to extremes, but forgot the most important ingredients...

Anyway,as far as his new stuff goes, I like "Tom Strong" and "Promethea" the best- they represent two different spectrums of comicbook techniques...

[Dr Fate]

6. kick

kick again

[Khephra]

7. Thanks for the alert

Sorry I hadn't written back.

:hi:

[Dr Fate]

8. No worries...

...we are all busy people...I hope the movie gets distribution so you can see it- its worth a view for sure...

[Dr Fate]

9. one more kick

kick