karen5778

Looking at the other reviews I can see how confusing this film is, as it was meant to be. Viewers have trouble getting the heroes and villains straight and one review cleared up some confusion for me. At one point in the middle my husband turned to me and said, "I wonder what they are going to recommend because we watched this?" It is a challenge to think of other films like it because it throws in so many genres. It isn't that funny, either, because that would make it a parody, which is a genre. While watching it I thought it was incoherent but now I think the filmmakers were very focused and intentional. Some films are stories, some evoke emotion, some are intended to invoke a state of consciousness in their audience. This idea is lifted from the conclusion of Aristophanes' The Frogs. This movie invokes a state of some sort. Whatever that state is, it seems to be shared by the community that made this film.

I saw this movie for the first time long before anyone thought to give me piano lessons and it made a big impression. They showed it on a local channel every few years and I always watched it. Perhaps it warped my expectations of the adult world, but I'll never know. Current events tend to make me think it was an accurate cautionary tale. It was certainly intense, dark and intelligent for a kid's movie. I have watched it as an adult and will probably watch it again.