 Arena (An Absurd Notion) (1985) Well, then, I'm not sure what your options are. Because Arena is not what you're looking for. This film – and yes, it is a film, not just a concert video – does, in fact, document a great DD live show with early-MTV jumpcuts and all the trimmings of a huge-budget mid-80s arena show. Yes, it is all that. But Arena is a lot more … and I have no idea whether that's for the better. For Arena is also a post-apocalyptic sci-fi film, with hundreds of extras straight out of Thunderdome, an evil-genius villain setting out to conquer the world, crazy spacecraft, and aliens who prefigure the misguided costuming of Masters of the Universe by a couple of years. Duran Duran, apparently, is not just a great band … they are the only obstacle to the nefarious Doctor's plot to take over the universe! They must be stopped! They must be stopped now, in the middle of their concert at the Oakland Coloseum! Oh, and for good measure, Arena intermingles clips from the movie Barbarella, from which Duran Duran got its name. What the fuck? It's one of the most befuddling things I've ever seen, so supremely pretentious and incoherent that it starts approaching art, albeit of a much different kind than it probably thought it was. I initially put it on in the background while I was sorting my "Lincoln-Douglas Death DB8" RPG cards, and every time I looked up, something wackier was happening. Simon Le Bon strapped to a windmill that sent his head underwater every time it circled around? Check. Topless Thunderdome dancers? Check? Deadly roller derby? Check. Insanity. There are no words. Good? Bad? I'm awestruck and dumbfounded. Duran Duran's 80s drug use was legendarily extreme, but I had no idea there was such amazing proof.
Review by La Fée |
