So I just saw the film last night and have been trying to figure out what it meant. From other people's comments and reviews, it sounds like it is just supposed to be some visual, trippy flick with no real point. What do you think?

I'm probably way off but here is what I thought as I was watching it. Oh and just a note, I was pretty stoned so I'm sure that played a role in my interpretation.

I thought there were different worlds all being shown simultaneously. Remember near the beginning when someone says something about killing insects just because they could? I thought that was kinda setting the tone for the rest of the movie. There were different worlds or maybe different species along the food chain but all being shown as humans. I thought this too b/c the way they would show a scene from two different vantage points. Rembember someone sticking their hand in that ball and then the movie jumped to the spaceship being under attack or being destroyed?

I thought it had some religious facets too where someone from a higher world would come down to the next level or life and help out. Like when it showed the birth of that ball that looked like the earth....and Wayne spewing what looked like the universe out of his mouth.

So what do you think? Am I way off on this?

I don't really have much of an interpretation, but I do not think you are way off. Actually some pretty nice observations in there, with the food chain metaphor, and movements from one level in the chain to another, etc. Obviously there's that whole Xian allusion thing going on as well with the metaphysical birth things happening and whatnot. Oh, and as I've said once before here I believe, ever had that experience where if something totally unlikely hadn't inexplicably happened, but DID, the whole situation and everyone involved would've been totally fucked? Everyone has. Well, that's what I think this movie is about. Sparse, I know...

Oh, and, could I get a hit of that?

*jonses*

Maybe there is no moral. Maybe it's just some stuff that happened.

Could be! Have you seen it Ingmar Bearman's Magic Lantern?

No.

i've been trying to interpret it since sasquatch and i still get confused, so i'm just going to enjoy it for the trip that it is for now.

when I was walking out of the second showing i went to this weekend, someone in front of me goes "it's probably supposed to be all full of symbols or something".... I found it suprisingly straight forward... maybe I'm just simple.

That's part of the beauty of it.

I'm pretty sure it was all about getting it on.

I just watched it again. I have a theory that Syrtis's delusion is a continuation of the one that Ed-15 had been having. Ed-15 committed suicide as the baby was being pulverized by the marching band, and Syrtis is seeing the baby just after it's already dead.

... aaaand then demands for the very suit Ed-15 had killed himself in.

also meaningful is that Syrtis then gives the suit to Wayne, maybe in effort to break the chain or take a different path.

Or... maybe Syrtis's unwavering hope prevailed, and in the end, the positive motives caused the positive effects. I wonder if Syrtis didn't really know what he was doing either, and was simply reacting with positive intention.(he appeared dim when he wouldn't accept the defeated attitude of the crew(ha! or was the emergency nothing more than a dilusion?))

This message has been edited. Last edited by: von Bobo,

I think the psychosis that Ed-15, Syrtis and Kliph's character all have is because of their isolation. Not only are they a small crew on Mars, with apparently only one woman, who is herself isolated from the rest, but it seems like none of them are really friends or get along that well together.

Rather than welcoming their alien visitor, the crew treats him terribly and as just a means to keep the Christmas pageant together. The scenes with the captain illustrate these points pretty damn well.

In the end, it just takes the birth of the baby and the fixing of the oxygen generator to finally sort of bring everyone together.

I think the scene between Syrtis and the doctor pretty much says everything... Humans aren't meant to experience that type of isolation, that they also don't have all of the things that they need to survive (drugs, etc...), and that the oxygen is messed up.

Edit: I just finished watching this the second time...Some observations:

-Does anyone think that Michael's character intentionally waited to fix the oxygen generator until Christmas to try to raise morale? It kind of makes since because of his line near the beginning of the film.

-The psychosis was definitely caused by isolation and the stress of the impeding birth of the baby. It makes sense... the only thing that's holding the crew together is the baby, since there is absolutely nothing else going on in the colony. Syrtis and Ed-15 become worried and start feeling that something wrong is going to go wrong with the baby, causing them to see visions of dead babies and vaginas. If the baby doesn't live, then all is hopeless ("Once Beyond Hopelessness").

This message has been edited. Last edited by: surfingelectrode,

After waiting 7 years of anticipation that peaked awhile back...

it was okay. Some nice images and a couple of laughs. The dialog was painful at times, often it seemed as though every sentence was repeated over and over again.

"Captain, the doomahickey is broken."

"What?"

"The doomahickey is broken."

"THE DOOMAHICKEY IS BROKEN???"

"Yes sir, the doomahickey is broken."

"Jesus Christ, the doomahickey is broken."

"Yes sir, that's right."


And the pacing of the movie was really weird. There was no real climax, it just sorta petered out. Still, it was entertaining enough. The audio and sounds was one of the best parts, as well as the general construction of things. Parts of the space station were hilarious (portapotties, an oven containing a bunch of wires) but still worked to create a nice set. I'm more excited about getting the vinyl soundtrack than watching the movie again. I did appreciate the general mood of dread. Given the Lips nature in recent years, it's surprising how dark this is.

quote:

Originally posted by flamingrev:
Some nice images and a couple of laughs. The dialog was painful at times, often it seemed as though every sentence was repeated over and over again.

You have to remember that Wayne was giving everyone their dialogue like 10 minutes before filming each scene and that this was at the peak of Steven's heroin addiction...

I actually kind of like the odd/bad acting in the film, it adds a bit to the realism that these people are demoralized to the point of committing suicide.

Well, it's easy to make excuses for why something isn't very good. I'm sure Tim Burton has very good reasons for why his Planet Of The Apes remake was horrible. Good excuses don't make something good, you know?

As a movie, Xmas On Mars is kind of crappy but interesting. As a homemade project that somebody made in their backyard, it is pretty cool.

Really, I'm just glad that I'm not waiting on it anymore. I hope Wayne never makes another movie, because his energy can be used for better purposes elsewhere.

And the bad acting didn't really bother me at all. I found it kind of charming in fact.

But the dialogue was wretched.

"A man in a santa suit ran out hatch one."

"You're telling me a man in a santa suit ran out hatch one???"

"Yes sir. A man in a santa suit ran out hatch one."

"Why did a man in a santa suit run out of hatch one???"

"I don't know why a man in a santa suit ran out of hatch one."

"Jesus. A man in a santa suit ran out of hatch one."

quote:

Originally posted by flamingrev:
And the bad acting didn't really bother me at all. I found it kind of charming in fact.

But the dialogue was wretched.

"A man in a santa suit ran out hatch one."

"You're telling me a man in a santa suit ran out hatch one???"

"Yes sir. A man in a santa suit ran out hatch one."

"Why did a man in a santa suit run out of hatch one???"

"I don't know why a man in a santa suit ran out of hatch one."

"Jesus. A man in a santa suit ran out of hatch one."

It's kinda funny...?

cellmate- "and when there was no crawdad, we at sand."
H.I.- "you ate sand?"
cellmate- "we ate sand"

angry captain was
THE SHIT
I <3 him.

It's kinda funny at first.

Not when it's almost every other line in the movie.

Yeah, I liked the Captain a lot. I really enjoyed it when you could see the Okie shine through in the movie.