One of the dangers of adapting an unfinished book is the probability of making an incoherent movie. While dramatic license might allow for some hole filing, can you really call something an adaptation if you do most of the writing.
Radio Free Albemuth the book was never supposed to be read, and ironically if not for the help of a Kickstarter campaign, the movie might have never been seen either. RFA toes that weird line between the good Phillip K. Dick adaptations (Total Recall 1990, Bladerunner, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, The Man in the High Castle) and the truly awful ones (Next, Paycheck, Total Recall 2012). It has all of the tension and ideas and density of a PKD novel, but the production value is seriously wavering. With poor editing and a production mired in bad luck, it's something of a miracle this thing got finished. But should it have been made in the first place?
The story is sound. A group of friends are entangled in a world where a fascist government has taken over, and subliminal messages in music might be the only saving grace. Yes you heard that right. Imagine your favorite bland pop star trying to create world changing music rather than something that will be forgotten in a year. There is also some other side plots that were smashed into the movie but who cares. I don't know if PKD even cared. The most interesting part of the story is Valis, the cosmic entity pouring random information into random human avatars. For those that know what PKD's real life was like, you can easily see this was an autobiographical tale of sorts.
There is a lot of ins and outs, and I don't want to mess it up for you, but just remember this is not a very well made movie. But they tried, and finished with a somewhat decent film to watch when the beer starts kicking in. Enjoy.
Radio Free Albemuth the book was never supposed to be read, and ironically if not for the help of a Kickstarter campaign, the movie might have never been seen either. RFA toes that weird line between the good Phillip K. Dick adaptations (Total Recall 1990, Bladerunner, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, The Man in the High Castle) and the truly awful ones (Next, Paycheck, Total Recall 2012). It has all of the tension and ideas and density of a PKD novel, but the production value is seriously wavering. With poor editing and a production mired in bad luck, it's something of a miracle this thing got finished. But should it have been made in the first place?
The story is sound. A group of friends are entangled in a world where a fascist government has taken over, and subliminal messages in music might be the only saving grace. Yes you heard that right. Imagine your favorite bland pop star trying to create world changing music rather than something that will be forgotten in a year. There is also some other side plots that were smashed into the movie but who cares. I don't know if PKD even cared. The most interesting part of the story is Valis, the cosmic entity pouring random information into random human avatars. For those that know what PKD's real life was like, you can easily see this was an autobiographical tale of sorts.
There is a lot of ins and outs, and I don't want to mess it up for you, but just remember this is not a very well made movie. But they tried, and finished with a somewhat decent film to watch when the beer starts kicking in. Enjoy.