The Way Things Go
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Movie Reviews of The Way Things Go
Movie Review: Domino-toppling for grown-ups
Summary: 5 Stars
If you ask them nicely, the nice people at Honda will send you a free DVD of their acclaimed two-minute commercial Cog for the Honda Accord. Watching it back-to-back with The Way Things Go is an illuminating experience, working out exactly which bits of TWTG 'inspired' the corresponding scenes in Cog.A sequence of counterweighted wheels running up a slope -- check. Rolling objects slowed by a thin layer of viscous fluid -- check. A slow-moving object knocks levers that give it extra energy -- check. And there are many more.
Cog is a great commercial. The idea of having all the pieces in the sequence be parts of the Accord was brilliant. And it's slick and perfect where The Way Things Go is rough and ready, chaotic and a little bit insane. None of the polished metal and smooth movement that sells cars for this piece of German engineering. Instead TWTG uses household objects, ladders, old tyres, bits of wood, kettles and nails, chemicals and fireworks. TWTG's miraculous engine does its job and falls apart -- spectacularly.
Sadly it's no longer true to say that there is no other film like The Way Things Go. But it's still the original, and still the best. And there's no cunningly hidden CGI in this one.
Movie Review: Simply amazing
Summary: 5 Stars
You really have to see this one to believe it. The spinning bag unwinds its tether and gradually descends. At some point, it reaches down to a balanced tire, and gives it a gentle push ...For about the next half hour (it seems like a lot more), each object in the chain bumps into the next, pulls the support from under it, launches a bottle-rocket into it, or somehow kicks off the next step in the chain. There must be hundreds of steps, involving flame, weighted cylinders rolling up hill, and a few episodes of oozing spooge.
The presentation is very plain, just the documentary of this incredible sequence chaining cause to effect. There is no sound track except for the noises made by the parts of this wild "machine". Even the parts themselves look like nothing special: teapots and tires, soda bottles and sugar cubes. It's the action that counts, and the time and creativity that brought it into being.
Perhaps the creators cheated at a few steps. There are some cuts in an otherwise continuous stream of action. If some purist lets that interfere with their enjoyment of the spectacle, it's their loss. If someone wants a "point" to the sequence, that's not my problem. It just is, and it's wonderful.
Movie Review: Astounding art, and powerful influence
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Way Things Go" is with things going. No music, no text or spoken words, but an incredible chain of things happening. Things going up, down, falling over, flowing, spilling, starting chemical reactions, burning, exploding, extinguishing flames, pulling, pushing, popping, steaming, rolling, and more.
For half an hour, you watch a ballet of physical and chemical reactions that is unpolished, but utterly facinating. There are rhythms and tempos, changes in cadence and style of action, but it is constant and mystifying.
I loved it.
On another level, it is a superb video for anyone trying to inspire kids to appreciated physics. Children will sit silently and watch this video again and again, and kids who never expressed an interest in science will ask the key question "how did they do that?" And then they are hooked. And it shows that good science can become good art and vis versa.
A timeless, facinating, and inspiring act of art.
E. M. Van Court
Movie Review: you are missing the point
Summary: 5 Stars
this piece of early video-art is a landmark. so different, that even after 20 years or so you rarley see a video-art piece that has so much humor, drama, poetic values and sensibility. to try and look for the errors of the editing is wrong. this is no holywood production or even a low budjet european movie. it is a work of art. and as such it can be made of everyday materials and edited using a primitive cut-to-cut machine.fischli and weiss are amone of the worlds most important artists. using any media to produce stunning works of art!
this video is a must for all video-art lovers and artists.
Movie Review: GENIUS - Delighted this is finally on DVD!
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this film! My best friend turned me on to part of it on VHS from a PBS station in NYC in 1988, and I've been looking for it ever since. This finally came available in the fall of 2006, and I promptly went out and bought seven copies (yes seven!), to give to my very best friends for Christmas. It's that good. My only disappointment is that the DVD doesn't include a making-of feature. Everyone I've shown this to has speculated on just how they accomplished this, I'd love to know exactly how they did it! Still an essential disc. Well recommended.