Saturday, May 22, 2010

"The Men Who Stare At Goats" [B]

"Weird" That's the word I hear quite a bit after viewing an off-beat film with my spouse. This time around, I have to agree 100%. This movie is pretty weird. Then again, you'd have to pretty much expect that, based on the title and the posters and the trailer.

Loosely based on allegedly real incidents from the 1970s and 1980s and tied together with a framing story set in the modern Middle East, the film surveys various tactics and methods of mind control with which the Army secretly experimented. The storytelling has an odd tone where one is never quite sure if what is on screen is supposed to be serious or a joke. There are some moments of genuine drama. But these are overwhelmed with enough humor that the end result is really more of a farce than a thriller. "Weird."

Acting and directing is first rate. I couldn't help but get bumped out of the pseudo-reality though, every time Ewan McGregor had to hear or say a line referring to Jedi. I'm sure he was biting the inside of his cheek.

The Men Who Stare at Goats (IMDb)

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