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Touches You

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Peter Weir must have been an angry young man as his first film makes fun of every level of society. The corrupt, bumptious, mayor of the two-bit New South Wales town is the obvious fall guy, but no single character escapes Weir's wrath. You might expect the wild, local youths with their vitality to provide the film's conscience, but they are ultimately portrayed as dumb, reactionary yokels whose demise is mocked. Tellingly the film's key line, 'I can drive', is used to belittle the death of the gang member we get to know best. However, Weir goes too far by mocking the audience. Our hero is a pathetic emotional wreck who barely speaks, while many scenes are dragged out with ponderous monologues and plodding development, as if Weir is saying 'you've consumed this sort of rubbish before, now I am going to serve it up to you in a dark satire. Can you tell the difference?'. The Cars That Ate Paris is best watched with the fast forward in your hand, but do not skip the brilliant finale in which the sordid little town gets its just desserts.

Yup, there's more than one Paris in the world. Who knew? The other one is a small, creepy(if that aspect is criminally underused) Australian village that makes a living off making cars that drive past, crash, scavenging the parts, and lobotomizing everyone who lives through the "accident". Well, except for Arthur Waldo(yup, we found him), because, well, otherwise, there'd be no movie. Eh, or would there? After a while, this ceases to be about him(no wonder, he's almost pure reaction, no action, he doesn't cause things, he just goes with whatever happens). It ends up focusing on this youth gang that resides there, and who are getting increasingly dangerous(and yes, you do get to see that spiked vehicle on the cover, and it is indeed badass). My best guess as to the reason would be that a society built around destruction and death would inevitably lead to that...? I understand that Peter Weir is known for his strange concepts, and this certainly shows that. Did I honestly witness a Western parody halfway through this? Down Under? I did like the mayor, obsessed with maintaining his small part of the Earth, keeping people from leaving town. Other than that, however, I lost count of just how many times I asked "what on Earth did I just watch, and why did what happened, occur?". I'd suggest a drinking game, but it'd lead to alcohol poisoning. For only being 84 minutes(including the credits), this feels long. It seems to run out of steam and ideas, and the pace meanders. While it could be a cultural thing, I found this to be excessively vague and downright hard to follow. I could simply be spoiled by recent cinema and TV overexplaining. Is this a thriller, horror, comedy, all, none? There is a little gruesome, bloody, gory, violent and disturbing content in this. The DVD comes with a 3 and a half(!) minute trailer. I recommend this to fans of the director. 6/10

Weir's first film is hardly a milestone in the history of cinema. The title is misleading inasmuch that it promises or at least suggests light-hearted goofiness. It's supposed to be a satire of some sort, but you won't find any laughs here. There is a weird feel to the whole film. It's about a small town of people who make car accidents happen so that they can loot and what not. For some reason Weir draws a clear line between the town's youth and the town's older folk; the youth is out of control and relishes the violence, while the older citizens are calm, collected, and regard the whole thing as merely business. This distinction between generations is what Weir was trying to get at. Right? But what exactly his point was, I'm not sure.If you want early Weir, ignore this, and watch "Picnic At Hanging Rock" instead: his best movie.

Arthur survives a car crash, but his brother was not so lucky. When he finally comes around he finds out he's in small country town called Parris and the local mayor tries to get Arthur to become a citizen. Strangely there some offbeat things going on in Paris and when the traumatised Arthur tries to leave he realises that he's trapped in this hell of a town. But what becomes a shock to Arthur is when he discovers the main source of income is that of salvaging parts of passing motorist's car after causing them to have a car accident.Peter Weir's first feature is a kooky, low-budgeted flick that I saw quite awhile back, but I did not remember too much about it, other than the devilishly looking sliver Volkswagen covered with spikes. I actually managed to record it off TV only couple nights ago and I just finally got around to seeing it again. This cult film I still find to be one tasty dark comedy that has a biting satirical edge about it. It ain't a perfect production and the film is highly incoherent, but damn the novelty behind it is far from generic, which made it such an engrossing and energetic exercise. Weir went onto make some prime films in the 70s with "Picnic at Hanging Rock" being his most vintage of his work in the period. "The Cars that Ate Paris" was a learning step in that right direction and a chance to find his feet. While the enigmatic story leaves many things up in the air with it's odd assortment of characters and ironic turns, but it's Weir's creative style and sly humour that shines through. Some of the satirical comments worked into the picture is that of Australia's obsession with automobiles to that of rebellion with the younger generation disrespecting their elders' terms. Weir is able to poke fun at these points with such nice balance of black humour and the smirking tone of it all really does stick to you without losing its way. There's some unbelievably humorous quotes in the dialogue too. But I actually found some disturbing scenes in the way how this car fetish lifestyle (a guilty sin waiting to break out) has become part of everyday life for the town that the harshness devoted on unexpected motorists is simply part of the parcel. It's a dog eat dog world in Paris. The actual feel of the film towards it deterioration of the town and menacingly, designed cars you could say goes on to find its way into the Mad Max films. Even a little homage of a spaghetti western standoff creeps in. There's not much in a way of suspense and it lumbers about in patches, but when the mayhem escalates it's plain devastating in its terrorising short bursts. The violence on the other hand isn't shy either with being well conceived and there's one memorable aftermath. The rural location and inhabitants of the town are simply alienating in their welcoming vibe and also with an eerie score that gives out a groovy twang that works up the mood rather effectively. There's just something essentially, whimsical about Bruce Smeaton's variety of tunes. The relax performances are adequate even though the characters are pretty much vacant shells, since most of the effort went into the look and thick atmosphere. John Meillon is great as the self-righteous Mayor and Terry Camilleri was solid as the timid Arthur who I actually sympathised for. The manipulative relationship between the Mayor who basically adopts Arthur as a son is an interesting set-up. Another recognizable performance that stood out was Bruce Spence as the very loopy Charlie. Simply a fun movie that's hardly dull, because it rambles along with many awkward situations and black humour.It's not for everyone, but people who are interested in Weir's work or that of odd premises should give it a go.