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Taking Tiger Mountain Revisited Review
Loading...Taking Tiger Mountain Revisited Review
Bill Paxton– Billy Hampton
Bryan Massey– Carl Samson
(check out the rest of the cast here
Directed by Tom Huckabee and Kent Smith
Screenplay by William S. Burroughs, Paul Cullum, Tom Huckabee, and Kent Smith
Distributed by Etiquette Films and Gold-Alchemy
Runtime– 74 minutes
http://goldalchemy.org/taking_tiger_mountain.htm
Taking Tiger Mountain Revisited, directed by Tom Huckabee and Kent Smith, is a hard movie to peg because, in many ways, it defies categorization. On the surface, it’s a sort of mega low budget art house post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie that pays more attention to the “fiction” aspect than the “science” aspect. Underneath, it seems to be a meditation on what, deep down, is wrong with the world, and an examination of one man’s mind in a world full of competing ideas. That’s what I got out of the movie after watching it twice. I have a feeling, though, that I’m dead wrong about what it means and what it’s actually about.
The movie stars a very young Bill Paxton (in fact, this is his first starring role in a movie) as Billy Hampton, an American draft dodger who is recruited, unwittingly, by a group of militant feminists to act as a sort of assassin. Hampton, after a series of brainwashing episodes and intense drug trials, is sent to Wales to take out an old man that runs a government sanctioned prostitution business. Now, Hampton doesn’t really know he’s been sent to Wales to do this, at least consciously. Hampton believes he’s going to Wales to have loads and loads of sex (I’m guessing that it’s safe to say that sex tourism is a big deal in this new, future, “merged” Europe).
So Hampton goes to Wales and, as soon as he gets there, weird stuff starts to happen. Hampton starts to have bizarre dreams where both he and you have no idea what the hell is going on. He tries to have sex with female prostitutes, but then there are times where it seems like he’s having willing sex with a feral teenage male instead. Why is this happening? It may have something to do with all of the drugs the militant feminists gave him in preparation for his mission. Or it could be his brainwashing interfering with the endless stream of government radio broadcasts that make up over 90% of the movie’s soundtrack. It’s difficult to say.
You’re probably going to be saying that a lot, both while watching Taking Tiger Mountain Revisited and after watching it. “It’s difficult to say.” Because it is difficult to say what the heck is really going on. Is what you’re watching a political statement of some sort? Is it a commentary on society and the world at large? Or is it all about what happens to this one guy, Hampton, as it relates to his most recent experiences? You’re going to have to make up your own mind. The movie could be about one or all of those things, or it could really be about something else entirely. That feeling of “What the hell is going on?” that makes Taking Tiger Mountain Revisited so interesting, thought provoking, and a must see.
The movie is filled with striking black and white visuals throughout. Some of the visuals appear to be of real world things, like the village in Wales that Hampton heads towards, and then there are scenes on a rocky beach area that are likely real but don’t appear all that real. Even scenes inside apartments are up for interpretation as to whether or not what you’re seeing is real. You have to figure out what’s real for Paxton’s Billy Hampton. What is he actually experiencing and what is inside his head.
I mean, the movie takes place over six days, but there’s a chance that that’s not actually true. There’s a moment at the beginning of the movie where one of the militant feminists says something about Hampton being under their thumb for longer than he believes/is aware of. Perhaps, in this story, time is fluid and can actually be longer or shorter than believed. Perhaps the six days in Wales is really less than six days (Hampton doesn’t change his clothes once during the movie). Or maybe he’s in Wales for way longer than six days?
It’s all worth thinking about. That’s what Taking Tiger Mountain Revisited will make you do. It will make you think and think and think.
Paxton gives a truly brave performance as Billy Hampton. He seems perpetually game for whatever the story requires of him and the story requires quite a bit from him. From walking around aimlessly, by interacting with the other “actors,” to acting silly in front of a mirror (the young Bill Paxton smiling in front of a mirror will give you goddamn nightmares. I’m not kidding. It’s an image that will be seared into your brain as soon as you see it). You will also become intimately familiar with Bill Paxton’s fully erect wang, whether you want to be familiar with it or not. If and when there’s a trailer done in the style of an old grindhouse exploitation movie Paxton’s member will no doubt be a part of the package. I don’t see how it couldn’t be.
Taking Tiger Mountain Revisited is a movie that will challenge audiences to think. I know it made me think. It will make you ask questions. It will make you want to discuss it with fellow audience members. What the heck is really going on with it? I mean, really?
See Taking Tiger Mountain Revisited. See it, see it, see it.
So what do we have here?
Dead bodies: 3
Explosions: None.
Nudity?: Yes, and there’s enough for everyone.
Doobage: Penis talk, a group of mega feminist female scientists, multiple voice overs, slow motion footage of a tiger, multiple people smoking, train hooey, vulture hooey, an old woman prostitute, lost of walking, attempted sex, fellatio, a cave, knife stuff, drooling, sexual graffiti, a butterfly, crotch rubbing, solitaire hooey, attempted dope using, more sex, suicide, multiple weird visions, rock to the head, gut stabbing, kidney stabbing, and a long story about tigers in the mountains or something.
Kim Richards?: Sort of.
Gratuitous: Young Bill Paxton, Bill Paxton’s fully erect penis. Bill Paxton eating Crackerjacks while naked in the mirror, women smoking, Bill Paxton making creepy faces in the mirror, Bill Paxton smoking, anti-Americanism, Common Market Radio, seemingly endless government propaganda radio, talk of a Mormon war, a teen kid talking about a comic book, Bill Paxton drinking milk, Bill Paxton calling London, Bill Paxton beating a teen to death on the beach, Bill Paxton rubbing his face on some glass, a guy asking Bill Paxton to get high with him, Bill Paxton talking about watching a lizard die and decompose, Bill Paxton holding a small frog, and a long story about tigers in the mountains or something.
Best lines: “What are your sexual fantasies?,” “Look, we’re not just hitting babies with hammers just to see what happens,” “What can you tell me about your dreams?,”
Can you give me some help? What sort of help do you need?,” “Sorry about the inconvenience. I brought you some wine,” “My name is Billy Hampton,” “Well, I guess I’m as ready as I’m gonna be,” “Did you have sex with a boy?,” “Do you get angry sometimes?,” “How in the world did you do this?,” “He must be hungry after all that bleeding,” “I don’t like girls very much,” “You made it all up, didn’t you?,” “So what’s this all about, you know?,” “You see that fly up there? It has more brains than Sally,” “You like to get high? Yeah. It’s very good dope,” and “What was your first experience with death?”
