2017/04/22

Alien - Director's Cut (April, 21)

It was a sure outcome watching Alien on this day. I'd saw it so long time ago, I couldn't resist to reach it again. It is the kind of movie that is already a part of the collective unconscious. It is an icon, even more than just a pop culture reference. Even if you've never seen any of the instalments in this big franchising, you'd know what one's talking about when referring to Alien's movies. 

The franchising is bigger than I thought. Ridley Scott confirmed that it extends not only to the films with one of the Alien characters (as Alien X Predator - that I liked, to be true -, but also to Blade Runner - a big surprise for me). As a whole, there are 15 chapters, including the upcoming movies, which were responsible in part for my choice on this day. 

Not for nothing Alien is such an icon. Watching it today, I'd realize how many and many productions drank from the Alien movies. And it is so dark, dirty... An ugly  and terrible future (here the connection to Blade Runner makes more sense) A space ship where people drink beer, smoke (the full ashtray at the opening scene call the attention of today's viewers), wears flashy Hawaiian shirts.. It seems so casual, but it is the stronger statement of a futuristic reality in which all the advanced technology that is so clean to us is actually a part of the daily life. Nostromo is a cargo ship, its crew is composed by one scientist (a surprise here), of course, but mainly by workers - space truckers. They're raucous, mercenary, loud... Their main interest is the financial gain. What they don't know is that they're collateral damage on bigger interests. 

This way, the movie is still modern, despite all the idiosyncrasy with our own times (particularly about the technologies on the '70s). I started to see it on the afternoon, but had to stop, continuing when it was already dark. I was a little bummed by seeing it at night, because I thought it was too scary (I was with Life still in my nerves). It is not, though. My main thought during the whole movie was how good it is - idiosyncrasies allow a kind of distance that it is inevitable even if the movie is still catching.

I'm curious now to watch the others on the immediate Alien franchising. If you observe carefully, some of big filmmakers had a significant worldwide break with Alien's movies: Ridley Scott himself, James Cameron, David Fincher, Jean-Pierre Jeunet. I'm also looking forward to see the next movie on the franshising, Alien;Convenant, even after Prometheus

There's no way to talk about Alien and without mentioning Sigourney Weaver. She was so young (as John Hurt, who went to the upstairs level on January, 25), and already an strong iconic (female) character. Sigourney and Ripley deserve their fame, representing the only smart person on that whole imbecile crew (I was talking about this in the Life post). She was and is amazing still, so relevant as Alien itself.


Alien (The Director's Cut).. Directed by Ridley Scott. Cast: Sigourney Weaver,
Jonh Hurt, Harry Dean Stanton. Writers: Dan O'Bannon (Story by Dan O'Bannon,
Ronald  Shusset). UK/USA, 1979, 70 mm 6-Track/Dolby, Color, 116 min. 


PS: I wasn't sure when choosing between the theatrical or the Director's cut of Alien. I went for the last one, and despite some concerns regarding this choice, I'll follow this fashion on the other instalments also.

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