Uliisses

Nekes' prize-winning film, based on Homer, Joyce and a 24-hour performance by Neil Oram at the Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool, is "a Homerian [sic] journey through the history of cinema" (Nekes), a mixture of structural experimentation, slap-stick comedy (including a scene with a perverted English policeman), sex and Greek mythology.

Uliisses - clearly intended to be the film to end all films - is a celebration of the history of light, photography, cinema, performance and painting and was received eulogistically by both the German press and audiences, probably a unique occurrence in the recent history of experimental film. It conjures up a kaleidoscopic encyclopaedia of film tricks and techniques, held together not only by fts diverse literary models but also by the catchy rhythmic beat of the experimental music by Helge Schneider and the British Anthony Moore.

Most of the dialogue is in English, with a cast including Jim Broadbent and Russel Denton, which makes Nekes' "greatest masterpiece to date" (Bazon Brock) especially accessible to a British audience. This film contains explicit language and sexually explicit material, so please do not attend if you are likely to be offended or embarassed.

Review by Alan Smithee
Taken from EUFS Programme 1994-95