cinema history class: hardware

Session: Bring Your Own Movie Month, Week 6 (Christina)
Movie: Hardware (1990)
Directed by Richard Stanley

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
In a post-apocalyptic dystopia, a man gives his girlfriend some robot parts to make art out of. He should have stuck with roses. Hilarity ensues.

Reaction:
For the first time, Christina participated in the class' annual ritiual of Bring Your Own Movie month. And for her choice she went with Hardware, a bleak nihilistic film, which paints a depressing picture of the future. It's nerve-wracking and claustrophobic -- almost all the action takes place in one character's cramped apartment. And it's also one great killer robot film.

The intensity was a big part of why this worked. The tension rarely let up, and when it did it was generally for some kind of oddly misplaced comedic effect. Note, for example, the downstairs neighbor constantly complaining about the noise.

I did note the strangely phallic drill weapon, which the robot used (to disturbing effect). When we were discussing this, Keith noted that the film crew actually found some of those sequences too disturbing and refused to film them -- which left Stanley to film them himself. On another note, during one scene with the creepy pervy neighbor, I asked if that was supposed to be Harvey Weinstein. His name, BTW, was Lincoln Weinberg. Now, I was joking about the Weinstein comment, in part because of the character's slovenly, Harvey Weinstein-esque look. But Keith did note that that probably was a shot at Weinstein.*

One of the best aspects of this movie, given that it's such a moody piece, is the soundtrack. There are lots of screechy and scratchy industrial noises that perfectly complement the feel of the movie.

All that said, it needed more Lemmy.

Ratings:

Me: 8.5
Dave: 9.8 to 9.9
Ethan: 8

Joe: 9.9
Keith: 9.5

Sean: 4 out of 4

*Damn, I'm good!