| The Doom Generation | | Cast : | James Duval, Rose McGowan, Johnathon Schaech | | Director : | Gregg Araki | | Studio : | Vidmark/Trimark | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned | | Released Date : | October 27, 1995 | | DVD Released Date : | August 04, 1998 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | Unrated | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | June 20, 2005 | | Summary | Ambitious and Amazing but not for Everyone | Content
 | Few films on the database have elicited anywhere near the disparity of comments that "The Doom Generation" has received, along with an extreme bi-model vote distribution. While I hate to prattle on about hidden meanings and messages that do not exist or that are not intended, Araki (unlike most film makers) is sophisticated enough to actually put such elements in his films. And he does not strike me as so full of himself that he would do this with no purpose other than mind games. Therefore, I will elaborate on my own interpretation of what he is trying to convey with this film.
McGowen's character, Amy Blue seems to be symbolic of the concept of pure beauty, which could be considered our closest relation to a world that exists outside ordinary life. An idea that psychologists like Jung (influenced by Eastern religion) have imagined as involving a sort of "collective unconscious" that persists through time while actual generations of human beings are born and die. Making beauty our proof while we live that there is "something higher" than ordinary existence. Like when a composer creates a melody and attributes it to a higher authority because they can't believe themselves capable of bringing something that perfect into the world.
Some do not recognize beauty when they see it and some are inspired when they see beauty, but most must possess beauty-or failing to gain possession destroy it rather than share it with others. Protecting beauty from those who would possess it or destroy it is the focus of this film. Although Amy is able to disguise herself from most people (and from most viewers) behind a façade of bad language and grim 'attitude', she is occasionally recognized by those who would possess or destroy-illustrated by the characters that go into violent rapture when they see her.
(SPOILERS AHEAD) My guess is that Jordan White is a too pure angel sent to protect Amy, and that Xavier Red is an evolving Jordan as his purity is replaced with protective survival skills. This is why the police agency can only find Amy's fingerprints on file. Like Charlie Kaufman and his twin brother Donald in 'Adaptation', death of one part of the dual identity is necessary for an integration of the two personalities. Akai likes to leave his involved audience members with the feeling that they were dreaming while riding a roller coaster.
There are a lot of God-Devil images in this film, with '666' presaging another attempt to destroy beauty or the evidence of 'something higher'.
Araki films are often about things not being what they appear to be; and they require the viewer to sort out complexity and revelation in what appear to be one-dimensional characters undergoing no real change. For example the sex scenes in this film, which initially seem crude and graphic, actually have a strange sort of innocence if you get past your own preconceptions.
This film is ambitious and amazing (a 10) but not for everyone.
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| Rating | | | Date | April 07, 2005 | | Summary | Stay AWAY | Content
| If I could give this a 0 or lower, I would.
This movie is so terrible I can't even begin to describe it. Some people seem to think its a "beautiful art film" but really it's just crap.
It's just full of pointless violence, pointless sex..everything is absolutely pointless. Honestly, the people who like this movie must've been on drugs or something..because it's just that bad.
The characters are all jerks who nobody would like in real life. So why the hell do we have to watch them do stupid crap and be the biggest a-holes throughout the entire movie?
Thegline said it best when he said, "Look, I don't ask for much from a movie. I really don't. Some fun, some brains, some wit, some nice scenery. This movie doesn't have anything I ever want to set eyes on again. It is a wasteland of shock-the-squares filmmaking that was past its sell-by date when it first came out. Angst, my ass."
This might've been a daring movie back in the 50's or something..but as it is, this has already been done and everything, EVERYTHING is better than this piece of crap.
If you want a pointless movie with lots of violence and sex..well this one might be good for you. However, i'd recommend Natural Born Killers...which says a lot because I didn't like that film better.
Don't waste your money! Leave this page right now..don't even rent this movie. It's the worst movie I have ever seen, and I have seen a LOT of movies. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 15, 2005 | | Summary | The Doom Generation | Content
| The Doom Generation is a strange, sad and ultimately poignant odyssey through a lost America. It's a speed-freak epic road movie, set mostly in gas-stations, cars and thrift shops, there are sudden outbursts of extreme violence amidst surreal landscapes which suggest Russ Meyer and a few hints at Godard's Weekend but the film has a vivid, original vision that is all it's own. It's about three lost naïve natives of nowhere, going nowhere, just going, it's a great road picture because it doesn't just capture that feeling of escapism, the director Araki makes their self-destructive journey happen, and by the end of the film we can feel for them, really feel, Araki does something very rare and very difficult with The Doom Generation, he sensationalizes everything to a maximum and yet creates one of the most intimate, touching even poetic American films of the decade. It starts out as a baroque comic strip parody and by turns becomes a truly moving portrait of youth on the run. That's not to say that The Doom Generation is a perfect film, like some of the greatest directors, Abel Ferrera for instance, Araki is not interested in making a perfect film, he has something to say and he wants to say it, he'll follow his heart when making a film, and get off on what feels right not on what should feel right, The Doom Generation has force, it has feeling, it has a kind of musicality to it, the images follow a certain emotional rhythm and Araki transcends us to this world of not knowing if you'll be alive tomorrow, living fast and dying fast, acting not so different from James Dean, leaning against a brick wall as a `Rebel Without A Cause' laughing at his own desperation, as his laughter turns to burning tears. The boys and girls of cinema have gone from being `The Pepsi generation' of Godard to the `Doom Generation' of Araki but not that much has changed. When they hold up a store in Araki's film , they do it not so much out of desperation but out of agony and boredom, a bit like the robbery in `Band Of Outsiders', their faces tell you that they know they are going to die very soon and yet they go on with it. The film ends tragically, the ending is bizarre but somehow not unexpected, the very last line, one of total indifference, recalls the last scene of `Going Places', the lost thought that they had found themselves but were destroyed by the very society that they were trying to escape from.
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| Rating | | | Date | December 20, 2004 | | Summary | What a waste of time and money | Content
| If I could give this less stars I would. So horrible. I can't believe that anyone would like this movie. It's only purpose is to try and shock viewers. I read the reviews where people say it's a thinking persons movie. No it isn't. I get the message it was conveying (you'd have to be blind not to) but it's an example of pseudo-intellectualism. Watch Natural Born Killers instead. |
| Rating | | | Date | December 06, 2004 | | Summary | It's a bad movie if you can't think for yourself! | Content
| When I first watched this movie I was reminded of Degrassi High (a canadian tv show featuring teens in school facing the difficulties of coming of age and the like). The acting was similar but the surroundings and the moods were of a different nature. No high school antics here....just one big road trip from hell story. In another summary of this film, one person said,"watching this movie was like falling asleep with the tv left on." This is also more or less an acurate synopsis. This movie has no real plot wich, in my opinion, has caused so many to hate this movie. There is some thought that need be applied when watching this movie (as well as an open mind). With the catch phrases that run throughout the movie (the rapture is coming, prepare for the appocolypse), and the nature of the dark yet strangely funny situations the characters find themselves in ($6.66 is the cost of everything, old lovers and clerks being hacked to pieces in moments of passion) there is a definite "the world is coming to an end" kind of feel to the movie. Such is the case in the lives of young adults and older too. All these dark situations are a reflection of society to those of us who strive for acceptance in a cruel and unrelenting world. Despite the many bouts of dark comical mischief and touchy sex subjects (masturbation, bisexuality, three way sex) there is an honest and rather "hard to swallow" message in the pudding that many fail to or would rather not see. The end of this movie kept me in the safe confines of my appartment for well over a week!! If you like plath, angst and controversy you really must give this movie a go for your money. If you prefer a story line to do all the thinking for you (and too bad for you if this is necessary) then forget it because I don't want to have to see another message about how bad this movie is. It's only bad if you can't think for yourself!! |
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