Friendship’s Death

I’ve seen this before, and I didn’t like it much then. But that was a crappy pirated copy, so when I happened upon this blu ray release from the BFI, I bought it anyway.

And now I’m watching it. Perhaps it’s better this time.

Indeed.

So basically, the entire film happens in this hotel room? And it’s all philosophical discussions between a British journalist and an alien robot — about the Middle East conflict(s).

It sounds like it should be brilliant, right? But it’s not.

Very Vermeerish.

Peter Wollen was a film professor at UCLA, and had done a number of shorts before this movie — which is his final credit as director.

Perhaps he was a good teacher — but… er…

This movie has a lot of problems, but perhaps one of them is the stereotypical casting? In this movie, by an older male professor, the protagonist is an older male journalist, who is lecturing a young woman (OK, robot) about all kinds of things. It’s a kind of Mary Sue movie, really. Mary Wollen.

Perhaps it could have worked with different casting for the guy.

I wonder whether Wollen was thinking he was making something like Liquid Sky — that’s got an alien and strange things, too, but…