I knew very little about this going in, mostly just 1) Saul Bass, so distinctive visuals, 2) notable desert cinematography, 3) the ants are regular-sized. All of these things were true! I really couldn't get over how effectively Bass got a narrative out of ants who were, surely, just doing what ants do; watching this, you really do feel like somehow he gathered up a bunch of hyper-intelligent ants and probably doomed humanity in doing so. The ant scenes are just very striking.
I definitely second finding the scene of the girl stumbling through the desert haunting--it's echoed nicely by Pacifist Scientist's later trip, where the photography stays gorgeous while growing ever slightly trippier, as if to prepare you for the end. And I was hooked from the start by the opening, with the calm narration about what was happening and who knew about it and who didn't, laid out over the ant footage: that was some great classic science fiction-horror, reminding me of everything from The War of the Worlds to other "animals attack!" stories. I wish this hadn't bombed so badly that Bass didn't get to direct again, because even though it's certainly flawed, it's a really interesting and unique film. Well, at least there are plenty of movies and movie posters with Bass visuals.
The alternate ending: I love how I could semi-follow it at first (okay, the ants will eventually build "human farms" the way we build ant farms, got it) and then it just got weirder and weirder and weirder from there.
no subject
I knew very little about this going in, mostly just 1) Saul Bass, so distinctive visuals, 2) notable desert cinematography, 3) the ants are regular-sized. All of these things were true! I really couldn't get over how effectively Bass got a narrative out of ants who were, surely, just doing what ants do; watching this, you really do feel like somehow he gathered up a bunch of hyper-intelligent ants and probably doomed humanity in doing so. The ant scenes are just very striking.
I definitely second finding the scene of the girl stumbling through the desert haunting--it's echoed nicely by Pacifist Scientist's later trip, where the photography stays gorgeous while growing ever slightly trippier, as if to prepare you for the end. And I was hooked from the start by the opening, with the calm narration about what was happening and who knew about it and who didn't, laid out over the ant footage: that was some great classic science fiction-horror, reminding me of everything from The War of the Worlds to other "animals attack!" stories. I wish this hadn't bombed so badly that Bass didn't get to direct again, because even though it's certainly flawed, it's a really interesting and unique film. Well, at least there are plenty of movies and movie posters with Bass visuals.
The alternate ending: I love how I could semi-follow it at first (okay, the ants will eventually build "human farms" the way we build ant farms, got it) and then it just got weirder and weirder and weirder from there.