Make no mistake about it — I know my stance puts me far outside the bounds of intelligent, rational, human society, but I liked…
A storied writer, or possibly a drunk (oh, who am I kidding — there’s no difference), once said of a particular piece of writing that it was a mirror: when a monkey looked in, no philosopher looked out. While I’m sure Dr. Zaius would take umbrage at this gross generalization, the adage stands, at least for me, when it comes to the films of director Albert Pyun. I cannot hate them, no mater how bad they are, because when I look into them, I see myself (a gibbering monkey). Albert Pyun has a magnificent, sprawling vision in his head. He has the drive to express this vision artistically, in his case, through the medium of film. And nearly every attempt at expressing this vision winds up a boring, dismal failure and a biting reminder that sometimes the gap between our ability to envision something and our ability to execute that vision is insurmountably vast. Albert Pyun’s sundry failures are me — if I set out to recreate in film the lavish visions I have, they would wind up, I suspect, looking a lot like the films of Albert Pyun, except maybe even worse.
#1 by Albert Pyun on April 6, 2011 - 12:31 pm
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Wow, thanks for the understanding Keith. The only thing I would add is the gap is sometimes widen by a lack of budget or too great an ambition. But I am if nothing, relentlessly resilient. Some day when you look within, I truly hope you’ll see the successful bridging of what I envision and what I have created. After 30 years, I keep trying!
Best,
Albert Pyun
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#2 by KeithA on April 6, 2011 - 1:14 pm
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Well hey — thanks for taking the criticisms in stride! It’s way better than the too common “get a life, asshole” emails we get. And I really do appreciate the effort.
#3 by Blake on April 6, 2011 - 2:16 pm
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Man, I need to get me an Albert Pyun film to review so that his comments can grace my site.
#4 by KeithA on April 6, 2011 - 2:52 pm
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We have Nemesis and, hopefully, Tales of an Ancient Empire planned for later this month/early next month. Sword and Sorcerer is one of the movies that made me who I am when I saw it back in 1982 or so. I’m even writing a defense of that one for a zine, claiming that it is the ultimate kids’ film, at least it was for kids like me and my friends.
#5 by Albert Pyun on April 6, 2011 - 4:17 pm
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Well, Keith, I actually did start my post with “Get a life…” but thought about it and realized what you said was spot on.
If you review Tales, don’t review the horrible Thai or Scandinavian releases which aren’t my cut at all, but bastardized quickie releases by a nefarious producer. Write to: Curnanpictures@gmail.com for the North American version which is the only real version from me.
Be great if you could review my Cyborg or Ticker or Captain America Director’s Cuts. At least I think I closed that yawning gap…
Albert Pyun
#6 by MatthewF on April 7, 2011 - 6:40 am
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Well Albert, if you answering questions, can you tell me exactly what it is in Cyborg that comes from the abandoned Masters of The Universe movie? Coz this film seems to be almost entirely shot out of doors, so there’s not much in the way of sets. Just curious…
#7 by Albert Pyun on April 7, 2011 - 10:26 am
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Mostly its the costumes. But the New York street was going to be the scene of a huge He-Man vs Skeletor fight and we had prepped it for that. A few of the props and we used locations we had already scouted (like the factor and forest) but everything else was organic to Cyborg.
Albert Pyun
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