I basically stumbled into watching (most of) this movie through an old record album I recently revisited. Yup, I pulled out my well-worn copy of Patti Smith's "Easter", and the rockin' lead off cut on side 2 is "Privilege (Set Me Free)". Now I always thought this was another Patti original, but noticed for the first time it wasn't. That led me to click the Wikepedia link on the song title, which in turn led to the song being the focal point of a sixties movie I'd never heard of.
Well, thanks to the wonderment of DVD's and libraries, I was able to order a copy through my local reading establishment. Good thing, too, as I doubt my local Blockbuster (if it's still open) is stocking this next to all those copies of "The Hunger Games".
Well, having read a bit about the movie's subject matter, I popped Privilege into my DVD player. It worked for me for about 25 minutes, as I enjoyed the movie version performance of the aforementioned song, but it seemed like a long downhill slog from there. I'm not going to get into the plot and/or meaning, as others here have both defended its merit and trashed its nonsense quite ably.
Let me just say that it's a unique movie, as it gets the Christopher Guest "mocumentary" treatment on an alternate universe semi-futuristic rock and roll story that just doesn't quite seem to work. Paul Jones seemed to do OK as the lead (even if he wasn't a "trained" actor), and Jean Shrimpton sure is nice to look at, but of course also not being a real actor, her part didn't seem too believable.
You're going to have to really work to see this movie in 2012, as it won't be easy to find, or to make it all the way through a viewing. Just make sure you know that going in if you attempt the challenge of seeing Privilege.
Well, thanks to the wonderment of DVD's and libraries, I was able to order a copy through my local reading establishment. Good thing, too, as I doubt my local Blockbuster (if it's still open) is stocking this next to all those copies of "The Hunger Games".
Well, having read a bit about the movie's subject matter, I popped Privilege into my DVD player. It worked for me for about 25 minutes, as I enjoyed the movie version performance of the aforementioned song, but it seemed like a long downhill slog from there. I'm not going to get into the plot and/or meaning, as others here have both defended its merit and trashed its nonsense quite ably.
Let me just say that it's a unique movie, as it gets the Christopher Guest "mocumentary" treatment on an alternate universe semi-futuristic rock and roll story that just doesn't quite seem to work. Paul Jones seemed to do OK as the lead (even if he wasn't a "trained" actor), and Jean Shrimpton sure is nice to look at, but of course also not being a real actor, her part didn't seem too believable.
You're going to have to really work to see this movie in 2012, as it won't be easy to find, or to make it all the way through a viewing. Just make sure you know that going in if you attempt the challenge of seeing Privilege.