Beyond the Black Rainbow

A fairly interesting sci-fi experiment. The audiovisual aspect is great, the atmosphere is fantastic, the pace is slow, there’s hardly any plot, it’s essentially an ambitious art film. Unfortunately, I didn’t get anything out of it and it was very hard to watch it all the way to the end. As a directorial début, though, it’s worthy of attention. When Panos Cosmatos is done masturbating over his art, his films will be very interesting, he does have the technical, atmospheric and visual talent. (2012.03.18)

A beautiful audiovisual adventure, even though you’d need a magnifying glass in order to find any traces of a story. And that’s precisely what will discourage most people from watching Beyond the Black Rainbow. And the remaining ones might regret having spent nearly two hours on it once they see the ending. Fortunately, I was able to immerse myself in the film without having big expectations. Jeremy Schmidt’s electronic music is pleasant to listen to and Panos Cosmatos is starting – also thanks to his following piece, Mandy – to profile himself as a kind of visual magician, whose next feat I’m eager to discover. This piece of film-making, however, would surely deserve a more viewer-friendly version. (2018.09.13)

The Canadian movie Beyond the Black Rainbow is quite an interesting first movie from a director who is developing quite a distinctive style. It is as if his Greek roots destined him to be a somewhat bizarre director. Panos Cosmatos follows the legacy of his father, the director of Rambo: First Blood Part II and Cobra, to a completely different level. You should not expect an action movie from Panos, but something more challenging. (2019.10.03)