Curtis’s Bitter Lake left me feeling a bit underwhelmed, like maybe his approach had warn itself out on me, so I hesitated to be excited when I heard about HyperNormalisation, but of course I had to see what he had to say about our most recent circumstances. Curtis’s devotion is to uncovering the hidden systems of power that move around us. How many layers does this onion have? This isn’t a movie that tells you there’s a way to fix things. The scary thing is it tells you the opposite.
You can expect many of his cliche’s throughout the movie, (A BINGO game circulated and I believe everything would have been crossed out) and there’s the classic Adam Curtis soundtrack and editing skills. I have seen numerous posts about how it feels like Zeitgeist. All I know about that movie is I hated the less than 10 minutes I sat through. If Curtis’s work feels repetitive after watching enough of his films, its because the stories often involve the same familiar characters and plot-lines.
If you don’t like his stuff to begin with, just don’t bother watching this one. However, if you enjoy his work like I do you’ll enjoy HyperNormalisation for its bleak portrait of what forces have been shaping our violent times. You’ll still be confused, but you’ll at least understand a little more why nothing seems real anymore.
The Cult of Infinity 