User Reviews

It feels like a lot styles are bouncing off of each other in this film. It's a comedy but it's sad. It's a revenge story but it's not violent. It's colorful yet muted. It's extremely slow at points and jaggedly fast at others. I've watched it twice just to make sure that all this was done on purpose. It feels as though it was. Different camera styles is a choice. Lens', framing, lighting and editing were choices. The fact that it's a rock n roll band but there's no rock n roll, but rather opera as a soundtrack is a choice. So with that said, I at least know there's a reason I'm supposed to be watching what i'm watching. But there's just something that's a little off about it. I can't place it. Nonetheless, i'd definitely recommend the movie to people that like weird movies.

The critic reviews point to this being Lynchian or even a horror film. It's not. It's a drifter film with the actor Rob Franco as the drifter. He gives a very weird performance that reminded me of 80s Rourke; in particular Rourke in the film Homeboy. Franco is dangerous and combustible. And he holds the film together in the second act - which is the only somewhat problematic act in the film. It still works, but compared to the high stakes absurdity of the first act and the beautiful sonata that is the third act, the second act underwhelms a bit. But that's only a minor quibble. The rest of the cast is terrific and the score is brilliant. I wish I could buy he score.

You can't do movies anymore like this. (not that this movie is not good) but you can't expect people to fall into a trance and get lost in a film. This is a super moody movie that you really need to not have other distractions when watching. I had my daughter crying, had to turn it off -- turned it back on, couldn't remember what happened. My husband starts yapping about a sports game -- had to turn it off. Turn it back on and can't remember what I was watching. It's not that people don't have patience anymore, but they are simply too distracted by other people to focus. I'm sure this movie is great in a nice air conditioned dark movie theater, but that's not how I saw the movie. And that's not how most people will see the movie.

Trippy film with a plot about tracking down a mysterious band. It follows the same structure of Eddie and the Cruisers in where you have the past (the formation of a band) colliding with the present (where the hell is this band now?). Unlike EATC, however, we never hear the band's music. (One single chord on a sitar at the end). I think this choice works really well as The Transcendents' (the band) music is not important to the story. (I'm also pretty sure that with all the well known musicians in the film, they could have had some great original music if they wanted to)

Which brings me to the acting. All the musician/actors are terrific. But the performance by Savanah Welch in the lead role is jaw droppingly good. Her character, Kim, doesn't start out as much (kinda bratty and annoying), but as the film builds momentum, the layers of her character are peeled away and you get this broken beauty that's hanging on to life by threads. LONG MONOLOGUE. (If you've seen Paris, Texas you'll understand.). The film probably has a debt to Paris, Texas as well with its weird leading man and desolate landscapes and long monologues.

Also, this isn't a movie about a cult. I don't know why the trailer looks like it's about a cult. Don't expect a story about a cult.

Watch this movie for the brilliantly performed monologue by the great Savannah Welch. It's the culmination of a character's descent in depravity. Like pealing away the layers of an onion. It's wonderfully written and the director really allows Welch to do her thing with an extremely long push in that stays at this insane close on her depraved face as she sets up a totally cathartic final act of the film.

Watched the Go Go's at the Rock & Roll HOF ceremony the other day and started doing a deep dive on all the work they've done solo over the past few decades.

WHAT A PLEASANT SURPRISE TO FIND THIS GEM WITH KATHY VALENTINE!!!

In a movie about a rock & roll band on the the rise and fall and rise and fall, there's 1. No Rock&Roll music and 2. Characters played by rock musicians who bring a real authenticity to the world of indie rock music. This is especially apparent with Valentine who has been as mainstream as possible at times in her career and as indie as possible. She brings a real authenticity to the character of Jan (an owner of a dive bar that used to be big and is now lucky to get a few customers a night).

The whole cast is spectacular, but Kathy is a surprisingly good actor. I hope this film wasn't just a one off and that she continues to act along with all the great music she puts out between her many bands and collaborators.

Def check out this movie.

Property, Property, Property!

This film struck me as kinda a metaphor for late stage capitalism. Not even a metaphor really since the George character says something like "This country is at a crossroads! They're either coming for the property of your mind or your body or your hands!" That's the situation for all the main characters. Every one of them has somebody coming for the property of one of those aforementioned forms of property. The desolate country landscapes, the empty bars, the people confined to wheelchairs, and the real life animals that have somewhat psychic powers and dread in their eyes represent an America in rapid decline. The fact that this film appeared to be written years before the polarized insanity we currently live in seems somewhat prophetic.

Very much recommend.

Everyone talk about the movie being about a band without playing music, but they missing that it's about addiction without showing drugs too. The main characters all fall into a spell of abuse but we only see it mentally and how self destruction takes over. But thankfully we never see the drugs. Im sick of seeing actual needles and people doing drugs. Good flick. Definitely not a pause and break away from movie. Must watch in one sitting.

This movie is a touching story about broken people. It really doesn't fit inside any one genre. It's funny but tragic. Exploitative yet sensitive. Trashy and artful. Grainy and colorful. The characters are ghosts and full-blooded human beings.

A lot of it feels familiar. But I can't place where it's borrowing from. At the risk of sounding ridiculous, it's almost like if Roger Corman made Days of Heaven. Or somehow if Malick made a Corman script.

All that to say: I'm glad I rented it. (I think. I really don't know what I saw)

I saw this at a hostel in Krakow. I don't know "who", "how", or "why" it was being shown, but I do know i love Kathy Valentine from the Go Go's who is one of the stars in it. So I watched. And I continued to watch. It was fantastic.

I think this film is for "smokers". I'm not into that stuff, but the movie is beautiful with sober eyes regardless. The last 30 minutes are INCREDIBLY MOVING. The movie tricks you by getting you to think it's about the main guy, Roger, when in fact it's about the main girl, Kim. (Both really good actors in this movie). It also tricks you by getting you to think it's a rock n roll story about a band when it's really about overcoming your past and confronting the people who have hurt you. The film has these long monologues by certain characters lull you into a trance. (Hence why I think it's for "smokers").

Is it out back home in the states yet? Or did I just lose my mind in Poland? The American stuff you find while traveling abroad is hilarious. ANYWAY, I recommend the movie. A lot. So cool seeing Kathy Valentine act!

Admittedly, I'm an editor so I pay attention to editing more than most people and most people don't pay attention to it at all -- nor should they. But the editing here has a very specific style that impressed me -- (a lot of this has to do with the DP and Director's style of shooting).

First -- In the scenes that take place in the modern day, there's a Bam/Bam "Smash Cut" style. Pretty much seems as though it represents the main character's anger and lack of focus on a revenge journey.

Second -- In the past, the scenes are clearly done with a heavily roaming handheld technique. I saw an earlier review that says this has to do with memory. It COULD. But I took it as a send off to "rock documentaries". In the past you see the band (The Transcendents) being formed and much like other rock docs, the camera crew is just lucky to be in the rooms and happy to grab whatever shot they could.

Finally -- There's these LOOOOOONG dolly shots that move into character's brains without any cutting. The characters go from being unreliable narrators to truth tellers before our very eyes. Its fascinating.

These three styles in editing, amongst many others in other departments make this film incredibly unsettling and a unique way of telling a haunting story of the past and present colliding.

"The Transcendents, directed by ex-Amoralist Derek Ahonen, is deeply flawed, but wildly different than any other indie or band movie. I never saw the Lynchian route other critics saw, but I saw a film that went from pretty messed up to super messed-up and never let go, culminating in an unforgettable last act. It's all held together by two super-performances (three if you count the not-uncle) by Walsh and Franco." -- Mihail

I don't see the lynchian comparison either. I think it's because of the pacing. Lynch doesn't go as deep with his character studies as Ahonen does here. This is really a character study of the highest order. The pacing allows us to slowly invade the characters of Roger and Kim both played brilliantly by Rob Franco and Savannah Welch. Once inside their heads, we begin to understand their reasoning. We never quite get inside the heads of the characters in Lynch stories.

With an incredible lead performance by Savanah Welch and and a show stopping third act, this little rock indie goes above and beyond what you'd expect from a modestly budgeted indie. Unlike a film like The Commitments and myriad other films about the rise and fall of a band, The Transcendents avoids music altogether and spends much of its ninety minute runtime meditating on the damage of ones past -- artistic and familial damage. By the time we get to the explosive third act, we've been lulled into a trance and are unable to foresee the tragedy that is being played out before our very eyes. Big props to the film's composer, who replaces what would normally be a rock score with that of an Italian Western score.

Story is great. Acting is great. Music is great. But the photography is perfect. Coming from the photography world, you should be able to pause a film at any time and be able to see a story in the still. Each scene in the Transcendents could be paused, printed and framed. It's just so full of life, color, hidden intentions, and style. The camera is either contorted like a gargoyle or dancing like a swan. Watch the movie, and pause it. Do it randomly. It's amazing.

Big fan of the show Titans and was really excited by what Savannah Welch did in the last season as Barbara Gordon. Wanted to see some of her other stuff. She's really awesome in this man. Like she's a real good actress. This movie is super strange in a good way. Probably even stranger if you light one up before. Think I might do that. Check it out.

Fantastic movie about the insanity of memory. It's told very easy though. Not a French-hyper-realism (you know who I talking about) thing. It's fabulous because it's simpleness. Very simple. It does jumping in time but not to be cute. It's to confuse, I think. The main characters are all broken and either capitalistic or anti-system and when they meet up after years, they have a hard time remembering why they were so messed up to begin with. The use of dutch angles for present day scenes is cool too. (An old trick that sometimes still works) And then it switches in the past to hand-held camera. (I think this is to suggest foggy memory) There's a few different styles working here but I feel its success. I saw the directors work at theatre plays in Spain so I was excited to see his movie work. This movie is very pretty to look at and funny, even though it deals with the worst things that could happen to people, it does with love and hugs. I tell my friends about it when it comes out officially. I need to see it again.

I rented this from the local library and don't know why it was in the "rock doc" section. It's not a documentary at all. There's not even any of the fictional band's music in it. I was actually looking for the new Go Go's documentary. I guess the fact that there wasn't the band's music in it was smart, because the score is lush with an old school western vibe. And since the plot is a revenge plot, I see why the choice of western was made.

Anyway, the movie is actually very good. It's creepy and surreal. Even the casting was surreal. Like outside of Valentine from the Go Go's, I feel like I saw every other actor in a different strange indie or something. Sure enough, after I looked them up, they were in other strange films that i'd seen. Good casting.

What the critics listed in their reviews is accurate. This is a psychological story about the rise and fall of a band (that we never hear) with some terrific performances.

But the colors in this film are mind blowing. It doesn't (at least it doesn't appear) as though any of it was doctored. But from bright red backpacks set against sundown to purple towels set against pale faces to organe fires against dilapidated wood -- every prop, costume, or set piece could be a still photo.

This is a little gem that I'm lucky enough to stumbled across.

Not a traditional horror story. Not a traditional comedy. It's slow and fast. Easy to understand and confusing too. Great performances and odd performances. You lose yourself but see yourself. Recommend to people. No idea what that poster is about. No idea at all. Very confusing. Should have a picture of a band.

Like Dead Man, we have a spiritual journey with a stoic and confused leading man. Were not quite sure at any given point where the journey is going or how to feel about the character.

This is fine. We know exactly how to feel about the real lead of the film, Savannah Welch as the character of Kim in a superstar performance. Her character is so well written, so closely directed, and so humanized that we can't help but get lost in her performance. As the critic reviews point out, there's this one monologue that she gives, where the camera slowly moves in for 15 minutes that is riveting.

Loved the 16 mil look of the film. At times it feels like a lost gem from the early 80s trash/revenge genre.

Very much recommend.