Thursday, September 16, 2010

Paul McCartney Really is Dead - The Last Testament of George Harrison?

(MVD) If one were to judge the five minute opening framing device, a story about the producers receiving a mysterious package containing mini-cassettes with George Harrison's deathbed confessions about the Beatles' secrets, then perhaps this would be a mockumentary, or a parody, or an absurdist art project. But when the film kicks in, and we have a history of the Beatles told by voice-over George, it becomes something else. For an hour and a half, utilizing stock film  and photos, Beatles press appearances, album art details, and backmasked audio clips (do copyrighted works become public domain when you play them backwards?) we learn the story of the grisly, gruesome death of Paul and the rise of false Paul, or "Faul." What the movie then becomes is dramatized, deftly edited, entertaining presentation of every obscure detail that has ever been attributed as a clue to Paul's death. Every secretly coded lyric, every album cover image that covertly John designed as symbol, clue and confession, every font that when held to a mirror, connected with dots like a stellar constellation, or read as anagram reveals information about Paul's intimate funeral, shocking decapitation, nasty eye injury, and the blowing out of his mind in a car, etc. So basically this project becomes Wikipedia Page: The Movie. In doing so it transcends even the most conspiracy theory kook detailed collection of Paul Is Dead ephemera because by isolating, emphasizing, and sometimes animating, the album cover clues and lyric sheets in clever and entertaining ways this repetitive screed becomes hypnotizing. Having not visited the actual Wikipedia about this stuff I don't know how much they made up out of whimsy and how much is accepted Paul Is Dead camp lore. I assume the elaborate conspiracy involving British secret intelligence, Dick Clark, and the cosmetically altered elderly woman now known as Heather Mills may have been inventions of the filmmaker, but obviously the fact that Britain assassinated two Beatles who were about to reveal the truth is true. And I have no doubt the Beatles visited the Maharishi not for enlightenment but in a futile attempt to get true Paul's soul injected into Faul's body. I mean, everyone knows that, duh!?!

1 comment:

  1. My biggest issue with this movie...They supposedly brought in a fake Paul because they feared the loss of one of the Beatles would be some kind of national tragedy...and to cover it up....they kill one of the Beatles....wut?

    ReplyDelete