Of all the films I have reviewed I will say that this is the most oddball film I have ever seen. Now I am not an expert of the hippie genre of films and that's because they are usually not that appealing. Now this film actually has a plot that made me want to see what it had to offer. What I got was something not quite what I was expecting. What I did expect was something bizarre and out there and what I honestly got was something more boring and tame than I was hoping to see.
This film basically follows a hippie who goes to Israel to find freedom and happiness and along the way he befriends a women who he gets close with quite quickly. Not long after meeting her he also befriends another hippie couple and they go on their way to search for true freedom. Along the way he has multiple encounter with two men who are dressed in black with their faces painted who he says are following him everywhere he goes. Things go from fun and free love to a battle of the hippies after they get stranded on a small desolate island.
Yes I will say that this film does have some odd moments, but for the most part it's montages of them driving or having fun. I was hoping to see something more trippy and bizarre than what I got. The most bizarre this film gets is when our main hippie has a dream where he beats the head of a man with a head made of an over sized audio recorder. There is alot of times when I could tell it was not supposed to be funny, but I couldn't help laughing at the horrible dialogue. Basically if you want a film that has alot more bizarre and trippy moments then watch something like "Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas" because that film will satisfy your taste for the mondo more.
The only character worth really giving a fuck about is our American hippie Mike. He has a free love attitude that easily gets turned into an almost psychopathic mind state over the smallest things. That shows especially when he goes on a rant about being trained to kill in Vietnam and how he killed so many people. That scene pretty much hints at what is to come when shit goes bad later on. The rest of the cast is actually forgettable really other than maybe the two guys stalking Mike, but they only show up I think three times and they do what they wanna do then they disappear and show up later.
Overall this is a bad film that only really can be enjoyable if you get together with a couple of friends and riff on the film. The presentation of this release looks great really, the picture is quite clear and all the grain is still intact. The highlight of this release which is limited to 2,000 copies is that you do get the director's cut of this film which is on the bonus DVD and goes by the original name "The Hitchhiker". Along with that there is a ton of special features that are great. For a film that I found to be not as good as I was wanting it to be this is a damn good release that will satisfy those who love this film as well as those who are wanting to check this one out!
-Daniel "Damnation" Lee
Director: Amos Sefer
Lead Actor/Actress: Asher Tzarfati
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Blu-ray Release Year: 2013
Theatrical Release Year: 1972
Time Length: 93 mins.
Rating: Not Rated
Region Code: Region Free
Release Company: Grindhouse Releasing
Website:
www.grindhousereleasing.com
Of all the films I have reviewed I will say that this is the most oddball film I have ever seen. Now I am not an expert of the hippie genre of films and that's because they are usually not that appealing. Now this film actually has a plot that made me want to see what it had to offer. What I got was something not quite what I was expecting. What I did expect was something bizarre and out there and what I honestly got was something more boring and tame than I was hoping to see.
