Insignificance

Rating:
Summary: Roeg begins to stumble
Review: "Insignificance" is a wonderful film. It has strong visual flair and Theresa Russell(the actress) and Michel Emil(the professor) are very good.....HOWEVER....
This is NOT the best film Nicolas Roeg has done. In fact I have to say that when compared to his earlier work, it's very weak. Roeg can be a very demanding director and anyone watching his films must be prepared to participate and not expect to be spoonfed everything you need to know about what you are seeing. This is what I love about his films but "Insignificance" seems confusing just for the sake of it. To me this film represents what has gone wrong with Roegs later work. The material just doesn't fit well with his idiosyncratic style. There isn't really any need for this film to be so strange. I sometimes think that Roegs' ultimate artistic drop came with his working so much with his wife Theresa Russell. They met while Roeg was filming "Bad Timing"(Roegs most brutal and accomplished film..DVD please!!) and since then Roegs films gradually declined in quality. A shame really because at one time Roeg was one of the strongest directors in the 70's. If you want to see this true artist at his best then see "Performance", "Walkabout", "Don't Look Now", "The Man Who Fell To Earth", "Bad Timing" and "Eureka". From "Insignificance" and onward Nicolas Roeg has found promblems with his choice of material to film.

Rating:
Summary: MARILYN MONROE explains "E=Mc2" to Albert Einstein!
Review: .
The film opens with an establishing shot of the "movie star" (Marilyn Monroe) shooting the most iconic scene of her career: standing over a New York subway grate while waiting for the wind of a passing train to whoosh her skirt up around her ears.

We then follow the "movie star" as she goes shopping while enroute to a clandestine nocturnal visit to "the scientist" (Albert Einstein) to teach him a lesson in relativity.

The best part of this rather bizarre film is the lengthy scene in which Marilyn Monroe (played quite convincingly by Theresa Russell) explains the theory of relativity to Albert Einstein.

Of course the denouement is when we realize that Marilyn doesn't even really understand the complex theory she has so perfectly demonstrated (with toy cars, trains, and flashlights), but that she has only *memorized* her explanation of the theory, as the actress herself would memorize her lines for a film role.

The other characters in the plot are "the senator" (Joe McCarthy of the infamous "McCarthy-era" witch-hunt of the 1950's) and "the ballplayer" (Joe DiMaggio, the "movie star's" husband (NOT Babe Ruth, as described by some idiot in another Amazon review posted here!). These characters serve purpose to bring a dark sub-plot or two to an otherwise unusually entertaining storyline.

Unfortunately, it all turns tragic, and ends mysteriously.

I know nothing about this director's other film work, but this film stands alone as a classic of the bizarre. I have enjoyed it through repeated viewings throughout the years.

Rating:
Summary: MARILYN MONROE explains "E=Mc2" to Albert Einstein!
Review: .
The film opens with an establishing shot of the "movie star" (Marilyn Monroe) shooting the most iconic scene of her career: standing over a New York subway grate while waiting for the wind of a passing train to whoosh her skirt up around her ears.

We then follow the "movie star" as she goes shopping while enroute to a clandestine nocturnal visit to "the scientist" (Albert Einstein) to teach him a lesson in relativity.

The best part of this rather bizarre film is the lengthy scene in which Marilyn Monroe (played quite convincingly by Theresa Russell) explains the theory of relativity to Albert Einstein.

Of course the denouement is when we realize that Marilyn doesn't even really understand the complex theory she has so perfectly demonstrated (with toy cars, trains, and flashlights), but that she has only *memorized* her explanation of the theory, as the actress herself would memorize her lines for a film role.

The other characters in the plot are "the senator" (Joe McCarthy of the infamous "McCarthy-era" witch-hunt of the 1950's) and "the ballplayer" (Joe DiMaggio, the "movie star's" husband (NOT Babe Ruth, as described by some idiot in another Amazon review posted here!). These characters serve purpose to bring a dark sub-plot or two to an otherwise unusually entertaining storyline.

Unfortunately, it all turns tragic, and ends mysteriously.

I know nothing about this director's other film work, but this film stands alone as a classic of the bizarre. I have enjoyed it through repeated viewings throughout the years.

Rating:
Summary: MARILYN MONROE explains "E=Mc2" to Albert Einstein!
Review: .
The film opens with an establishing shot of the "movie star" (Marilyn Monroe) shooting the most iconic scene of her career: standing over a New York subway grate while waiting for the wind of a passing train to whoosh her skirt up around her ears.

We then follow the "movie star" as she goes shopping while enroute to a clandestine nocturnal visit to "the scientist" (Albert Einstein) to teach him a lesson in relativity.

The best part of this rather bizarre film is the lengthy scene in which Marilyn Monroe (played quite convincingly by Theresa Russell) explains the theory of relativity to Albert Einstein.

Of course the denouement is when we realize that Marilyn doesn't even really understand the complex theory she has so perfectly demonstrated (with toy cars, trains, and flashlights), but that she has only *memorized* her explanation of the theory, as the actress herself would memorize her lines for a film role.

The other characters in the plot are "the senator" (Joe McCarthy of the infamous "McCarthy-era" witch-hunt of the 1950's) and "the ballplayer" (Joe DiMaggio, the "movie star's" husband (NOT Babe Ruth, as described by some idiot in another Amazon review posted here!). These characters serve purpose to bring a dark sub-plot or two to an otherwise unusually entertaining storyline.

Unfortunately, it all turns tragic, and ends mysteriously.

I know nothing about this director's other film work, but this film stands alone as a classic of the bizarre. I have enjoyed it through repeated viewings throughout the years.

Rating:
Summary: Significant
Review: One of my all time favorite films. Thought provoking. Insignificance reminds us that we are part of a much larger picture. How something that may seem like a minor incident to one person is a major occurrence to another. Guess it goes back to that Native American saying about not judging (or assuming about) another person until you walk a mile in there moccassins.

Rating:
Summary: A Feast for the Mind and Eyes
Review: Those who say that "Eureka"(1981) was Nicolas Roeg's last great movie either have not seen "Insignificance"(1985) or have vastly underestimated it.All the trademarks of a Roeg film are here; surrealism, spectacular visuals and a uniquely intelligent story.The idea that Marilyn Monroe and Albert Einstien had an intimate relationship is explored here with great gusto. Misconceptions about Monroe's intelligence and Einstien's intellectual elitism are shattered here although her baseball player husband(DiMaggio)is what the viewer would expect.The climax is both unpredictable and mind blowing. All in all, Russell and veteran cast are great and Roeg's craftsmanship is uniformly excellent.

Rating:
Summary: A Feast for the Mind and Eyes
Review: Those who say that "The Man Who Fell To Earth" (1976) was Nicolas Roeg's last great movie either have not seen "Insignificance"(1985) or have vastly underestimated it.All the trademarks of a Roeg film are here; surrealism, spectacular visuals and a uniquely intelligent story.The idea that Marilyn Monroe and Albert Einstien had an intimate relationship is explored here with great gusto. Misconceptions about Monroe's intelligence and Einstien's intellectual elitism are shattered here although her baseball player husband(DiMaggio)is what the viewer would expect.The climax is both unpredictable and mind blowing. All in all, Russell and veteran cast are great and Roeg's craftsmanship is uniformly excellent.

Rating:
Summary: A Feast for the Mind and Eyes
Review: Those who say that "Eureka"(1981) was Nicolas Roeg's last great movie either have not seen "Insignificance"(1985) or have vastly underestimated it.All the trademarks of a Roeg film are here; surrealism, spectacular visuals and a uniquely intelligent story.The idea that Marilyn Monroe and Albert Einstien had an intimate relationship is explored here with great gusto. Misconceptions about Monroe's intelligence and Einstien's intellectual elitism are shattered here although her baseball player husband(DiMaggio)is what the viewer would expect.The climax is both unpredictable and mind blowing. All in all, Russell and veteran cast are great and Roeg's craftsmanship is uniformly excellent.

Rating:
Summary: Worth watching at least once
Review: What if Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Babe Ruth and Senator McCarthy were all in the same hotel during the same night, and their lives crossed ? You have to admit you can't go wrong with a premise like that. Unfortunately as much against science as it for science, and a rather anti-progressist ending. It's too bad, because it's a lot of fun.

Worth watching once if only for scenes like Marilyn Monroe demonstrating relativity to Einstein with miniature trains and flashlights, Babe Ruth telling Einstein how many packs of gum he's been featured on, and Monroe dancing with her skirt on fire in the middle of a nuclear explosion (don't ask).