Mad God (4 Stars)

Mad God? Mad film.

"Mad God" was sold out in the cinema today. It's a visual treat, but I didn't understand it at all. I spoke briefly to the people sitting on either side of me, and neither of them had a clue what it was about.

After the film there was a live video conference with the director, Phil Tippett. There were several questions from the audience. In retrospect I regret that I didn't make a note of them all. One person asked the question that was on everyone's minds: "What's the film about?" Phil's reply was, "It's about 80 minutes". Further questions tried to tie him down, but his answers were always evasive.

There's no dialogue in "Mad God". Phil praised the golden age of silent movies. He claims that they were the days when directors were creative, unlike today when Hollywood just makes films according to standard formulas. When asked what silent movies he would recommend, his reply was "Google classic silent movies". He's a nice guy, but trying to get information from him is like squeezing water from a stone.

"Mad God" is Phil Tippett's lifetime work. He worked on it for 33 years from 1987 to 2010, continuing whenever he wasn't interrupted by other projects such as "Robocop" or "Starship Troopers". Mostly he worked alone, but other collaborators joined him for brief periods over the years. When asked how he knew the film was finished, he said that when the contract with Netflix was signed the film was complete.

I checked Netflix as soon as I got home, and it's not available. Maybe it'll be streamed at a future date. It's not the sort of film that can be given a big run in the cinemas. True, it was sold out today, but we were an audience of film freaks who'll watch anything weird.