For a film released in 1929, this film is surrealist to the max, but what else would you expect from a Salvador Dali collaboration.
Director: Luis Bunuel
Starring: Pierre Batcheff, Simone Mareuil, Luis Bunuel
Released: 1929
Un Chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog) wasn’t filmed to make sense but made as another form of surrealist art by Spanish director Buñuel and artist Salvador Dali, which resulted in one of the most famous short films ever made, a must-see for any film student or maker, made by two young men, living in Paris, not long after the birth of cinema and enjoying their freedom, with this showing on the screen, there is no plot to speak of, but more a collection of highly evocative scenes, starting with a shot of the moon transforming into the infamous eye cutting scene, which even today would be viewed as rather gruesome.
Un Chien Andalou isn’t really a horror film, but a surrealist dream sequence, but it is closer to horror than other genres, mainly down to the graphic nature of some scenes, most of which are confusing and hard to watch, scenes that you can’t apply modern reasoning too, it is more an experiment in filmmaking, dreaming up some of the most striking images of early cinema, with unusual sight after unusual sight, including a man pulling two pianos, each containing the dead body of a donkey, while a woman cowers in the corner, a transvestite on a bicycle and a sexual assault.
There isn’t really a plot to talk off, instead, the film is an experimental mixture of images and expressions that avoids following the typical path most modern movies would do to tell a cohesive story, in fact, no matter how many times you watch Un Chien Andalou you’ll never fully understand the film and some of its deeper meanings. But like good horror or mystery, Un Chien Andalou is a memorable film that will leave you shaken, scared and confused.
Roses Have Thoughts 