Thursday 25 August 2016

Franklyn

For those of you who haven't seen it, or even heard of it, Franklyn is a UK film that can be considered something of a diamond in the rough. It was released in 2008 to a minimally announced screening and an even more scarcer advertised DVD release later on.

The story itself is a little convoluted and is something of a romantic fairy tale if one were written by a cynical psychiatric nurse, however it is more to the visuals that makes this film truly great.

From the deeply disturbed Gothicism brought to us by Eva Green's character, to the grandiose magnificence of Meanwhile City that looks as if it were a joint lucid dream between Guillermo del Toro and Tim Burton, Franklyn is arguably elevated to more like a piece of art to view rather than a film to watch.



So, other than being a wealth of visual inspiration, the ethos of Meanwhile City is also quite striking because the law dictates that every inhabitant within its colossal boundaries is required to be an adherent of some kind of religion. In fact there are so many differing cults, creeds, sects, micro-churches and so on, to quote from the film:

"There are now so many faiths registered in this town, it gets kind of hard to be original. These days, you can form a congregation simply based on washing-machine instructions."

Indeed there is a magnificent scene inside this massive bureaucratic hall:


"If you needed to find someone, the best place to start was the Faith Registration Centre - Meanwhile's melting pot of the pious. Every creed, cult, religion and doctrine pass through these doors, all looking for the same sense of belonging and hope."

In the 40k universe, wherever I see the word Shrine World, I cannot help but think about Meanwhile City. Inspired by the recent beauty that was the Pilgrym project done on Iron Sleet, I have it in mind to dig up an old campaign idea that I was part of a long time ago and maybe start a new community project set on a Shrine World with Meanwhile City's visuals/ethos in mind for the backdrop.
  

Спасибо за прочтение



1 comment:

  1. I'd forgotten that I'd seen it until now. Your quite right, it is a visually impressive movie. I can't remember the story that much, but maybe I should go and refresh my memory of it again.

    Cheers :)

    ReplyDelete