After Blue
I’m not entirely sure one viewing is enough for me to really get my head around “After Blue.” I’m not even sure four viewings would be. There is hallucinatory images, sensual images, political ideas and science fiction conceits throughout each of its 130 minutes. I was riveted by every minute of it, but that doesn’t mean I understand a damn thing about it. If you’re adventurous enough, I wouldn’t turn you away from it, either.
We start by seeing Roxy (Paula Luna). She is looking directly at the audience, being interviewed by an off-screen individual. This is how we learn about After Blue, a far off planet where humans exist, but men have died off. It is just women who reside. How do they procreate, though? We are told, but that’s hardly an issue when Roxy- as she is spending time with her friends- comes across a woman buried in the sand. When she frees the woman, her friends are killed, and the killer- whose name is Kate Bush (Agata Buzek)- gets away, but not before leaving quite an imprint on Roxy. The leaders of the village her and her mother, Zora (Elina Löwensohn), live in want them to hunt down Kate Bush, and kill her. Zora is just a hairdresser, however; and Roxy is in Kate’s erotic pull.
Imagine if Jupiter in “2001: A Space Odyssey” did actually look like that in real life, with the psychedelic images and landscapes. That is what the world of “After Blue” looks like, and it’s a fully engrossing world thanks to the practical effects- done in camera- achieved by director Bertrand Mandico, cinematographer Pascale Granel and his effects team. For no other reason, the visuals of “After Blue” are worth recommending the film for, and they have a soundtrack by Pierre Desprats that complements them perfectly.
At the beginning of the summer, the name Kate Bush had major buzz around it, as the British pop star’s 1980s hit, “Running Up That Hill,” found a new generation of fans thanks to “Stranger Things.” Needless to say, this film having a character- a murderer- named exactly that was jarring. (It’s actually short for a longer, Polish name, but everyone in the film refers to her as Kate Bush.) The narrative of “After Blue” is basically “True Grit,” and that is an engaging hook for the film story-wise. Thematically, I have no clue what is going on in this film. Kate has an eye in her vagina, and the film contains images that would be right at home in hentai in how it portrays erotic desire. Are the leaders against Kate just because of her killing, or is she a threat to their way of life, how they see it? Are they trying to conceal a secret that Roxy inadvertently pulls out of the sand? That’s the best thing I can think of, but the film does not make it very clear. “After Blue” plays like watching a mashup of the last 20 minutes of “2001” and “Titane” while on acid. Unfortunately, it’s more convoluted than that might be, even if it’s gorgeous to look at.
