Mr. Sycamore, I was going to try to find the exact wording and I couldn't, had a very short synopsis. It basically said that the main character John became obsessed with the idea of becoming a tree, so he goes into his backyard and "plants himself" and awaits the metamorphosis.
And yeah, that is what happens. No, it's not all that happens though. In fact, I had a eerie feeling pretty early on, because by minute 20 or so, John has already made up his mind and he was already in the backyard. It was then I knew, some dumb crap will probably happen to throw all this shit for a loop, cause otherwise this movie would barely make 30 minutes.
And it does. I will say, this movie never went full on bad, but it has many unnecessary and extraneous moments. There's a whole bit of "comedy" about the mental hospital coming for John with a straight jacket. There's a "groovy" surreal bit where he watches a woman ride a horse. But most interestingly, and perhaps even well done, was a bit of a deep dive into the relationship between John and his wife Jane, who generic names aside, have what appears to be a very deep and loving relationship. We can see the true depth of feelings Jane has for John as he gets more and more into the tree idea, which would obviously point to future marital problems.
This being 1975, I was genuinely curious to see how this movie would end. A big part of me suspected he would actually turn into a tree. After all, the movie had already stepped into surreal territory once, and obviously it wasn't going to end with the main character going to the hospital, killing himself, or waking up. Spoiler warning, in the end John does turn into a tree. His wife comes and touches his leaves. Pan out. Credits. Okay...?
In the end, I wasn't sure exactly if I liked this or not. I will categorize it as something that if you watch it when you're young it would probably stick with you. It reminds me a bit of all the bizarre weird shit I saw on the other boxset. The movie with the whale song dude. The weird movie with the aliens. Alien Prey. By the way it's been a full year since I finished Sci Fi Invasion and reviewed it! My god time flies.
Maybe this movie could have actually been on that set...? It felt thematically similar wherein it has an interesting premise, but for some reason it's hard to follow, and it leaves you with a general feeling of "wait...what?" It has an ambiguity about it and I won't lie, it's an ambiguity I am growing to really appreciate. For some reason, these movies have stayed with me. I guess it's the perfect amount of bizarre feel, unanswered questions, strange but likable characters, and at times parts of the film that were actually quite good. The acting, the way the characters interact, it's actually really good in a lot of these films. It feels heartfelt.
This movie was based on a play, which again points to things I normally enjoy. Dialogue is cryptic yet refreshing, enigmatically pushing forward. I don't want to sound like I'm hyping this movie too much though, cause it certainly was a bit boring and very difficult to love. But I did like it, and I do give it 3.5 stars. Which seems awfully high, but who cares.
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