Spirits of the Air: Gremlins of the Clouds

Director of Photography : David Knaus - ACS,

Editor : Craig Wood,

Art Director : Sean Callanin,

Sound design : Peter Miller,

Producer : Andrew McPhail. Shot on location around Broken Hill, Australia, this film was the first feature length film by director Alex Proyas after he completed film school. Filmed at more or less the same time as the music video 'Kiss the Dirt" by INXS with the same film crew and equipment. 'Spriits of the air gremlins of the clouds' is better known as simply "Spirits". Spirits was produced on a super low budget, but none the less the crew did get the minimum wage, and it was much fun to shoot. It was shot on 16mm,and all of the special effects were shot in-camera, including a night scene where a flock of Bats fly past the full moon. Actually tea leaves floating in a fish tank, shooting into a light as the full moon.

Worth watching.

This film has some of the most beautiful imagery and haunting music ever. (Not to overstate it or anything) A three hander set in a post apocalyptic Oz outback (but one which is wildly more fantastical than Mad Max), Spirits of the Air tells the story of Smith, a stranger on the run who happens upon Felix and Betty, far into the desert.

All around them are amazing images of cars buried into the ground like totems, huge flags blowing madly in the desert wind and their house itself is of the old oz pioneer style but decorated everywhere with crucifixes. Felix is an inventor obsessed with flight and making a glider, an obsession which has already left him in a wheel chair. Betty is one of the truly great film characters, just an absolute tripper - I can't describe her but the performance is a delight.

This is not a fast film, it is not action packed but is intense - the imagery and art direction are beautiful, the writing is distinct and very Australian but still universal, the soundtrack is haunting (a lot of windsound montages with a simple tune used to great effect) and the performances are both real and surreal.

Until you see this film (and for those who have enjoyed the increasingly brilliant work of Alex Proyas, you really should) you won't know what you are missing.

(By the way, to the @$#%ing mongrel who stole my Japanese import copy of the soundtrack on CD may you be locked in a room with Betty for a very long time)

Not everyone is likely to appreciate this quirky piece of art to the extent that I do, but in my opinion it is one of the most unique and beautiful celluloid creations to come out of the Southern Hemisphere since the 80's. It's the closest I've come to feeling like I'm watching a live play and yet the surreal panoramic desert scenes open the stage up in a way that could never be achieved in a theater. The characters are absolutely charming in their eccentricity, and despite the fact that they are, (on purpose I expect) slightly caricatured, it seems to fit in totally with the alternately gaudy and melancholy feel of the environment. The score is a haunting blend of inspired minimalist electro pads and creaky violin, that conjures up perfectly the sun-bleached skulls, the tumbling weeds and the pathos of the two characters caught in their own cycle of madness and humanity. Some of the dialogue also happens to be vastly funny in it's own nutty way. A circus of the grotesque, simple and amazing. The simple plot which speaks of broken dreams and desperate hope is childlike and touching. I don't claim to be an experienced film reviewer, just an enthusiast who loves this one.

I like all Alex's films, with the possible exception of The Crow, but I think this early piece is the one that touches my heart the most. Yay for the guts to be original... Please when can I get it on DVD?

Filmmaker Alex Proyas is probably best known for movies like The Crow, Dark City, and I Robot. I think Spirts of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds was his debut feature, and if you can get past the clunky title, there's a fair bit to like here.

It's sort of a post-apocalyptic story set in the Australian outback, centring on a mysterious stranger who starts living in a remote house with a brother and sister and alters their lives in various ways, but the plot's pretty loose overall, and not too important.

It's a really beautiful looking and sounding movie. So many shots are very bold and visually striking, and many look as though they could be album covers (in a good way of course). I thought the musical score was excellent too.

Less can be said about the acting and some of the dialogue. I guess it's okay for a smaller movie like this, but they definitely pale in comparison to the look and sound of the film.

It might've been better as a short film, as it does feel pretty slow and drawn out at points. Also, it peaks in the opening credits, where the music and visuals take centre stage, but it remains a pretty good watch throughout thanks to the well-realised vision.

Proyas was already a very confident director even this early in his career, and this film works pretty well despite its flaws.

It would be really hard for me to recommend this movie, as the story is thin, the three characters unlovable, and if you are not into 1980s New Age electronic music, then you definitively WILL throw something at the screen before an hour is up. There is hope though. If you love art, and particularly Australian desert landscapes, and in particular the almost uncanny use of colour, texture and design from that landscape, then Spirits of the Air may best be described as 90 minutes of a really excellently vivid (and original) slow moving art show (with a very tiny apocalypse theme), yet with a 1989 play trying to narrate. Almost any frame from this movie would make a good poster, even now, let alone back in the loud old days of 1989. It's worth a 7 for being brave and technically brilliant, but I'd really think twice about making it a gift for a new friend.