film and architecture section: Total Recall by Paul Verhoeven, architecture and film appreciation

category: Architecture and Film (The waterloo University syllabus) (click HERE for syllabus)
film index: 39

film: Total Recall
director: Paul Verhoeven
writers: Philip K. Dick, Screenplay: Ronald Shusett, Dan O’Bannon, Jon Povill, Gary Goldman
production: US
release: June 1, 1990
playtime: 113 mins
visual: colour
Language: English
Subtitles:
Genre: Sci fi, Adventure
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside and Ronny Cox
size: 690 mb

reference: www.warezws.com

Description and Download:

This Schwarzeneggar film is set in the future (but filmed in Mexico City) and speaks about travel to Mars and vacations that are the result of brain implants. It makes interesting use of present day modern architecture to speak of an architecture of the future (all in concrete...) and presents a view of life on Mars and living conditions on the planet.

The film explores the question of reality versus delusion, a recurrent topic in Philip K. Dick’s works. The plot calls for the lead character and the audience to question whether the character’s experience is real or being fed directly to his mind. There are several visual and informational clues which point in both directions. Verhoeven plays up the intentional ambiguity to the very end and no definitive answer is ever given. However the beginning title of the movie soundtrack is called "the dream" and the ending title "end of a dream". On the DVD commentary Verhoeven and Schwarzenegger come to opposite conclusions regarding how real the post-Rekall events of the film actually were. Thus, the viewer is left wondering whether or not the events actually happened, if the entire story is simply the memory purchased at Rekall gone terribly awry, or if in fact Rekall had simply delivered on its original promise of “action” and “adventure.” This theme has been revisited since in similarly-themed films such as The Matrix, eXistenZ, The Thirteenth Floor, and Vanilla Sky.

A consistent motif throughout the film is the presentation of striking opposites: Earth/Mars; Quaid/Hauser; the mutants Kuato and his brother George; the use of holographic doubles by Quaid and Melina; reflections of Quaid, Lori and Dr. Edgemar in mirrors in Quaid's hotel room; Melina/Lori. The latter example subverts a standard film noir convention, the saintly blonde versus the devilish brunette; in Total Recall, the blonde turns out to be the villain and the brunette the heroine.

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Saturday, November 14, 2009

Total Recall by Paul Verhoeven, architecture and film appreciation

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