More (1969)

Fresh and Exciting

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Unusually choppy, with a lot of complicated set-ups featuring one or two lines of dialogue. The most memorable scene was towards the end during the couple's 15th or 16th argument while a black cat follows them along a street and observes them with admirable forbearance. The trooper stays with the shot all the way to the end. Pink Floyd and Néstor Almendros reputation's are not dependent on this movie. Left me with a big and a small mystery: What was Wolf's business and what was going on with Charlie's hair acting as sideburns?

In the late 60's, after graduating in Mathematics, the German Stefan Brückner (Klaus Grünberg) hitchhikes from Lübeck to Paris to see the world without money. He befriends Charlie (Michel Chanderli) in an arcade and they go to a party. When Stefan meets gorgeous American Estelle Miller (Mimsy Farmer) in the party, Charlie advises him to stay away from her. However, the straight Stefan falls in love with Estelle and after breaking in a house with Charlie to rob, he follows her to Ibiza. Stefan seeks out the hotel of his fellow citizen Dr. Ernesto Wolf (Heinz Engelmann) where Estelle is lodged. He asks her to leave the place and stay with him in an isolated seaside house. Before leaving the hotel, Estelle steals some money and a pack from Wolf. Sooner Stefan learns that Estelle had stolen 200 doses of heroin and he decides to try one fix with her, in the beginning of his trip to hell. "More" is a cult-movie from the late 60 that became famous due to the music score by Pink Floyd. The film is a sort of response to the counterculture of apology to the drugs of the 60's and 70's and is dated in the present days. My great interest to see "More" was the Pink Floyd soundtrack, and I found it s great film, developed in slow pace to a predictable climax in the very end. Mimsy Farmer is amazing in the role of a destructive woman with face of angel but of death. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "More"

A German freshman, Stefan hitch hikes to Paris during summer break were he falls for a mysterious young woman he meets in the Paris freak scene. He then follows her in the famous isle of Ibiza, the hippie joint were meets Wolf, a man who throws Hitler-Jugend knives, owns bars and hotels and keeps Estelle under his thumb with dope. The couple tries to escape Wolf, Stefan gets hooked with dope and jealousy for Estelle, who's groovy and a free spirit. Great photography and music, plot is quite usual for the period but it's not an exploitation kind of movie, cold and dramatic. The moral is quite strong (he was looking for the sun...) but I would not say it's a film against drugs even it puts enphasy on drug use.

Like most people, I was interested in "More" solely because of the Pink Floyd soundtrack, which has turned out to be the only Pink Floyd album that I still listen to after all these years. It was quite a surprise to run across the film in a local video store, in a digitally remastered version. It was an even bigger surprise to find that it is a pretty good movie. Visually it is quite beautiful, especially when the two main characters are cavorting on the rocks on the Spanish island of Ibiza. And the use of the soundtrack music, which as far as I can tell is exclusively by Pink Floyd, is excellent. It was a joy to watch the film with my copy of the album alongside me, mentally ticking off each track as it was used in the film. Dave Gilmour's brief "A Spanish Piece" was the only one I didn't hear, and several tracks are used quite prominently, especially "Cymbaline," "Main Theme," and "Quicksilver." That latter track is tedious on the soundtrack album but works very well during the title sequence of the film, resurfacing at least once later on. Maybe now I can appreciate it on the album, now that I have some visuals to accompany it in my mind.The plot of "More" is a little hard to take at times, especially in the early going, when the film appears to be merely a vehicle to demonstrate the hipness of those involved in making it. But eventually the film proves that it has much more than that to offer, as the plot becomes more focused. Why does Stefan take heroin? Why does ANYBODY take heroin, fully knowing the possible consequences? The film does not attempt to answer that question directly, but Stefan's heroin use seems a logical extension of his single-minded pursuit of pure pleasure.I strongly recommend this film to any Pink Floyd fan who has an appreciation of the vastly underrated "More" soundtrack. I also recommend it to anyone who has an interest in sixties counterculture and how it was portrayed in the media. I have no idea how realistic this movie is, since I am too young to have experienced the sixties firsthand, but it does seem to capture the spirit of the times in a way that no other movie does.