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curator's noteThis week our writers peruse the psychedelic and hone in on the hallucinative in their exploration of Michael Glawogger's absurd Austrian stoner comedy CONTACT HIGH (2009). WEED-EN-SCÈNEMatthew Wears "Contact high" is a term used to describe the situation in which a person begins to feel high simply from being around someone who is under the influence of an illegal drug. CONTACT HIGH (2009), directed by the late Michael Glawogger, is a zany and outlandish drug-fuelled adventure that, as the names implies, aims to make the audience feel just as intoxicated as the two main characters, Max (Michael Ostrowski) and Johann (Raimund Wallisch). Throughout this episodic story, the mise-en-scène is used creatively to invite us into a world of trippy visuals, bizarre characters and outlandishly offbeat events. The film treats space and environment like a blank canvas on which Glawogger inventively designs each visually stimulating trip. Everyday places such as busy nightclubs, classically designed train carriages and decidedly drab apartments become playgrounds for Max and Johann to occupy. The use of such mundane areas only serves to amplify the effects of drugs. Seemingly normal areas are transformed time and time again into colourful and vibrant scenes that often do not make sense in the real world. We are invited to exist within them as well. Yet, with each new scene being more random than the last, we are left confused and unable to make sense of any narrative structure. This is especially the case toward the end of the film where the plot seems to be abandoned altogether for a trip that allows the audience to fully indulge in the grand scale, spectacular animations created with rich, vibrant colours. In a film where the only function appears to be to visualise the effects of drugs, the mise-en-scène is crucial. The heightened and exaggerated visuals are obviously meant to replicate being high, a state in which all the senses are at their most intense. CONTACT HIGH’s mise-en-scène offers a visual display of the effects of drug use that sets out to create the same chaotic, nonsensical and truly confusing feeling for its audience that Max and Johann experience. Every day this week a different writer will provide their perspective on our MUBIVIEWS film and each post will be open to comments from our readers. Watch CONTACT HIGH on mubi.com until 19 May 2017 and join the discussion!
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curator's noteThis week our writers peruse the psychedelic and hone in on the hallucinative in their exploration of Michael Glawogger's absurd Austrian stoner comedy CONTACT HIGH (2009). WHAT'S IN THE BAG?GEORGE LEE The MacGuffin, popularised by Alfred Hitchcock, is a plot device used to drive the narrative forward that usually has no other explanation or meaning. The main point of a drug-fuelled romp such as CONTACT HIGH (Michael Glawogger 2009) is to use the medium of film to demonstrate the effects of psychotics. Therefore, a MacGuffin is a necessity so that characters have something to do other than just get high. In this film, the MacGuffin is a bag. The contents and the purpose of the bag are left a mystery, other than it needs to be returned to a stereotypical gangster type. At one point or another nearly all the character are tasked with retrieving the bag. This means Max (Michael Ostrowski) and Johann (Raimund Wallisch) are involved in all kinds of hijinks, such as mistaken bags and awkward car chases, all because of the mysterious bag. It is easy to imagine that if the bag were removed from the plot entirely there would not even be a movie. This shows what a crucial plot point MacGuffins are. In the final scene of the film, the bag is opened only to keep its true contents hidden. What comes out is a visual display of fairies, mushrooms and butterflies. It might be interpreted that the bag itself contained drugs as Max and Johann were trying to return the bag to a drug dealer. However, it seems more likely that the inside of the bag is a drug trip and represents the film itself; the bag is nothing more than an excuse to show these visual representations of getting high. What is in the bag is actually meaningless in this kind of narrative; the bag is only needed for this kind of meandering story to give it some semblance of story. Every day this week a different writer will provide their perspective on our MUBIVIEWS film and each post will be open to comments from our readers. Watch CONTACT HIGH on mubi.com until 19 May 2017 and join the discussion!
curator's noteThis week our writers peruse the psychedelic and hone in on the hallucinative in their exploration of Michael Glawogger's absurd Austrian stoner comedy CONTACT HIGH (2009). HEAD TRIPEM HOUGHTON Showing how drugs affect their characters is a popular trope in the “stoner” film. The comedy sub-genre has boomed in both mainstream and independent cinema since the 1990s, evident in the popularity of films such as the Jay and Silent Bob “View Askewniverse” films (Kevin Smith 1994 -) and Seth Rogan’s works such as PINEAPPLE EXPRESS (David Gordon Green 2008) and THIS IS THE END (Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen 2013). CONTACT HIGH (Micheal Glawogger 2009) depicts its characters’ drug-induced hallucinations differently to how other films have done in the past. Instead of using an abundance of CGI to recreate what the characters see, CONTACT HIGH does so in its use of jarring and disjointed editing techniques mixed with more physical manipulations of other people and settings. Rather than editing a multitude of colours dancing across the screen, CONTACT HIGH goes further by actually changing the world around the characters for the audience to see. The film itself represents a “trip”, with everything starting normally but then it all descends into chaos. The mysterious glowing substance, hidden in the bag that Max (Michael Ostrowki) and Johann (Raimund Wallisch) are tasked with finding, has an hallucinatory effect on all who encounter it. And thus begins the spiral into a drug-fuelled whirlwind adventure. During a scene in a nightclub, Max and Johann eat “space cakes” filled with the mysterious ingredient and they begin to see unusual visions of large anthropomorphic dogs in place of the other dancers. By using dog masks instead of perhaps more realistic special effects in scenes such as this, it makes this “trip” feel even stranger. These physical manipulations allow reality to be subverted, merging the expected with the unexpected. Every day this week a different writer will provide their perspective on our MUBIVIEWS film and each post will be open to comments from our readers. Watch CONTACT HIGH on mubi.com until 19 May 2017 and join the discussion!
curator's noteThis week our writers peruse the psychedelic and hone in on the hallucinative in their exploration of Michael Glawogger's absurd Austrian stoner comedy CONTACT HIGH (2009). HIGH ON LIFE ISSUESSTEVEN FEGAN One of the key elements that have attributed to the success of comedies involving drug use is the foregrounding of friendship, or some form of odd pairing, that ensures a comedic back and forth for the audience to enjoy. CONTACT HIGH (Michael Glawogger 2009) utilises this formula, devoting ample time to an array of colourful characters, while also exploring contemporary issues involving drug use, xenophobia and homosexuality, expertly masked in a buddy film. While the central plot involves the retrieval of a bag, it simply acts as a plot device to explore these themes of friendship and unlikely pairings. Contemporary issues are deconstructed in a comedic yet formidable way that does not overshadow the light-hearted nature of the film, but instead complement the overarching, ludicrous nature of how drug use is presented onscreen. By not highlighting the contemporary issues as a main story thread, it allows the unfold as an irreverent comedy. The comedic tone could be interpreted as CONTACT HIGH not wanting to politicise its narrative and implies a reluctance to highlight issues as issues. Instead, the film presents homosexual characters, frequent drug use and the stereotyping of ethnic groups. For example, a character (Imran Mirza) simply called Pakistani is the butt of several jokes relating to suicide bombings, but they remain jokes, highlighting the reluctance of the film to politicise itself. Instead, the film remains comedic, rather than preaching to its audience. CONTACT HIGH does not promote these themes but ultimately intertwines pressing contemporary matters with drug-induced comedy throughout the film. It leaves the audience with a simple story to enjoy but with relevant, hard-hitting undertones to be explored with further viewings. Every day this week a different writer will provide their perspective on our MUBIVIEWS film and each post will be open to comments from our readers. Watch CONTACT HIGH on mubi.com until 19 May 2017 and join the discussion!
curator's noteThis week our writers peruse the psychedelic and hone in on the hallucinative in their exploration of Michael Glawogger's absurd Austrian stoner comedy CONTACT HIGH (2009). "EAT ME", "DRINK ME"SUMMER MANNING After a night of clubbing, under the influence of drugs and alcohol, CONTACT HIGH’s (Michael Glawogger 2009) affable stoner Max (Michael Ostrowski) and sausage connoisseur Johann (Raimund Wallisch) wake up in their hotel room, hallucinating that the furniture is much smaller than its normal size. Max even sees the cars in a television broadcast of renowned sports race Le Mans shrink before him. As they return to their room the previous night, Johann claims they are going “down the rabbit hole”; indeed, the following scene is reminiscent of several sequences in the Disney animated classic ALICE IN WONDERLAND (Clyde Geronomi et al. 1951). In the Disney animation, Alice shrinks and grows several times by consuming different food and drinks. Lewis Carroll’s source novels and the various film adaptations have long been associated with recreational drug use due to their surrealist, psychedelic imagery. Alice eating the cake and drinking from the potion bottle does not actually change her physical size but her perception of reality, much like Max and Johann when they wake up. There are several other allusions to the Carroll story throughout, including an excerpt from the 1974 Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band song “Party of Special Things to Do”, which mentions the Red Queen, and a character named Sissi (Aline Pölzi), a young girl with blonde hair and blue eyes who resembles Disney’s Alice. References to Alice’s warped perceptions suggest that Max and Johann are in a childlike state while they are high; their openness to their own imaginations is something that should also be embraced by the viewer as they watch. Every day this week a different writer will provide their perspective on our MUBIVIEWS film and each post will be open to comments from our readers. Watch CONTACT HIGH on mubi.com until 19 May 2017 and join the discussion!
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