The Cathedral Of New Emotions — The Cathedral Of New Emotions( Blu Ray)
The Cathedral Of New Emotions is an animated film regarding a 1970s commune of Berlin stoners and intellectuals, launched in space in a packing container clutched by a giant flying hand. The early 2000s German film is a highly heady slice of sci-fi, woven with threads of surrealism, sexualised imagery, and general stoned-out wackiness- all soundtracked by a mix of tripped-out Kraut rock grooves and spaced-out synth scapes. Here from Deaf Crocodile is a region A Blu-ray release of the film, featuring a new commentary track, and a selection of new and archive extras.
The Cathedral Of New Emotions (aka Die Kathedrale Der Neuen Gefühle) is from the year 2006, with the animated feature coming in at dead on the dead-on-the-hour mark. It was directed by Escherhof, Rhineland, Germany, born Helmut Herbst, who sadly passed in 2021. Between the early 50’s and early 2000’s he has thirty-two directional credits, taking in shorts, TV movies/ series episodes, and six features. His five other features are: documentary Deutschland Dada(1969), animated sci-fi Die phantastische Welt des Matthew Madson (1974), documentary regarding German Visual artists John Heartfield, Fotomonteur(1977), Eine deutsche Revolution(1982) a period drama which looked at the life of 19th century intellectual revolutionary Georg Buechner, and drama Die Serpentintänzerin (1982).
From the very beginning of The Cathedral Of New Emotions, you know you're in for a highly wacky/ extremely stoned ride- as we see a naked man wearing a blue head mask bouncing on a series of large red peppers. As the Berlin stoners and intellectuals get sucked up, and the film unfolds, we get images of the spacecraft’s windscreen wipers swooshing away huge insects, Might Mouse, and other weird flotsam ‘n’ jetsam.
Among the crew of eight, there are topless blonde twins and a man with a long fly-catching tongue. Men get blown up by their members to deflate into grey, saggy mounds, people talk in buzzing insect voices, and bodies/ items glide/ melt into each other.
There is a very vague sense of a plot- regarding a spaced-out astronaut- who joins the stoned/ shagging crew, and starts off a quest to find a Yeti philosopher. But it’s really just one long trippy ride- where things just seemed to be more warped, hash-smoked-hazed, and bizarre as it goes on.
The animation is fairly simple, at points waveringly crude, with uneven colour washes, but it fits well enough the vibe/feel of the film. And really, you couldn’t have made the film as a live feature- as there’s way too much melt, deflating, and trip-outness going on here.
Watching The Cathedral Of New Emotions with a clear/ un-psychedelic laced mind. It starts off being fun & rewardingly wacky, but as things progress/ get weirder, I found myself shifting between lightly chuckling bemusement, head scratching puzzlement, and slight frustration/boredom. So, I guess you're best to watch it somewhat altered to get the most out of what we have here.
This new region A Blu-ray includes a few extras. First off, on the new side, we get a commentary track from film historian/ fellow German animator Rolf Giesen. He begins by letting us know that we’re not going to get an explanation of what’s going on in the picture, as it’s an experimental film, and he’s good to his word, as he largely doesn’t talk about the film at all. Instead, we get a potted history of German animation, notable creators/ how they created, and a bio of director Helmut Herbst. The track's fine- though it felt more like a lecture on German animation than a formal commentary track, so take from that what you will. Otherwise, on the new side, we have Dawncast Eyes (18.12) video essay by experimental filmmaker and film scholar Stephen Broomer.
On the archive side, we have- Container Interstellar (7.20) a 2001 animated short using characters/ concepts that will appear in The Cathedral Of New Emotions. Werkinterview Filmkunst: Helmut Herbst (26.07) a 2013 German TV documentary regarding the career of Mr Herbst.
In finishing, it’s great to see Deaf Crocodile uncovering/ releasing yet another weird/ wacky world cinema film with this release. The Cathedral Of New Emotions will be for those who have a penchant for either seriously stoned-out ’70s vibes or trippy/da-da focused animation.