Quintet

[MysteryWho]

I just watched this again on dvd. I wanted to give it another shot 'cause when I saw it before it was a terrible full screen vhs. It's still not a great movie, but it's a lot easier to appreciate what is good about it with dvd. I like a lot of Robert Altman's films, they often have a dream quality/logic about them that is unique to them. Even his lesser films are indelibly marked by this because of his vision.
Anyhoo, it is a pretty unique take on the whole Post-Apocalyptic genre.
One of things I really found interesting was that the game actually worked, much like how the Rollerball game had rules etc. It's really part of bygone era it seems, that period where thoughtful science-fiction wasn't so endangered in the cinema.
My main quibble is that it seemed like a piece of print fiction put word for word on the screen. Movies aren't books, books aren't movies. What works for print will not work on screen. Rollerball was intelligent but it contained enough visceral thrills and the correct pacing for a movie.
Thoughts? Opinions?

[palitoy]

Is that the one where they play a deadly game as the world freezes to death? Saw it in college but barely remember much except I liked the visuals but found it dull other wise.

A lot of 70s sci fi was like that, I put this in the Zardoz pile.

[MysteryWho]

Yeah, there's an ice age and the only thing people still do is play this game.
The game is really just a metaphor for a bunch of themes that are poorly
conveyed throughout. The killings are like a "live" version of the game that
people play for kicks.
Actually, that's a good comparison. Zardoz definitely goes in the same box.
When I watched the commentary for Zardoz, Boorman says "This is a film
full of ideas. Too many perhaps." I like that one better than Quintet, but they have many of the same troubles and neither is really successful.