Based around a simple premise circling around a burger shop employee who discovers the power of weaponized industrial noise music and its capability of inciting riots against the government in West Germany, Decoder brings together the efforts of multiple underground artists in this rich and enthralling sci-fi hidden cult gem.
Decoder compensates its lack of technicality (which the film itself is never afraid of exposing) with a great poetic quality present all through the film and with a very inventive dreamlike cinematography focusing especially on lighting, creating haunting scenarios and succeedinñg at delivering a unique vision of a dystopian West Germany that never was but lives within the film's own vision. The particular cast of characters drive the film's themes, along with heavy symbolism and a great soundtrack counting with the likes of Einstürzende Neubauten and Psychic TV, Decoder truly is a cinematic countercultural manifest, which demands more than one viewing in order to catch all of its quirks.
This is a film that never shies away from presenting its own vision, championing itself above the apparent downturns that could play against an independent film by fully utilizing its resources to its artistic benefit, this film is the definition of a cult classic.
Decoder compensates its lack of technicality (which the film itself is never afraid of exposing) with a great poetic quality present all through the film and with a very inventive dreamlike cinematography focusing especially on lighting, creating haunting scenarios and succeedinñg at delivering a unique vision of a dystopian West Germany that never was but lives within the film's own vision. The particular cast of characters drive the film's themes, along with heavy symbolism and a great soundtrack counting with the likes of Einstürzende Neubauten and Psychic TV, Decoder truly is a cinematic countercultural manifest, which demands more than one viewing in order to catch all of its quirks.
This is a film that never shies away from presenting its own vision, championing itself above the apparent downturns that could play against an independent film by fully utilizing its resources to its artistic benefit, this film is the definition of a cult classic.