An Animal x On The Silver Globe Commentary

This soundtrack to this clip of On The Silver Globe by Andrzej Zulawski marks the third and final installment of the series on Zulawski's use of doppelgangers, though many more could be done with his other films. In this particular clip the reference is more philosophical than visual as in the previous two- humans have landed and colonized a distant planet and the civilization's history on earth slowly begins to repeat itself. The alien interrogated exposes itself as a sort of twisted, fantastical doppelganger to humanity itself when it responds: "You are an animal and so am I. I am consistent, you are not. I am a reflection of what is in you."

This performance by Polish actor Andrjez Seweyn is nothing short of phenomenal. His explosive fits and violent outbursts are the perfect physical enactment of Zulawski's composition on the dysphoria of introspection. Looking inward at oneself as if into a mirror that reflects deeper than our conscious minds are capable of illuminating is a terrifying concept beautifully illustrated in this scene with its violence, pain, and confusion.

I recorded the music for a lot of this clip through an old Maestro Sirecko tape delay machine. It was probably built in the 1960's and sounds exactly as such. The old tape replays a shaking, uncertain feeling I think matches well with the beach scene in which Seweyn chases an alien that communicates back with a sort of ESP. Here the delay setting is short and acts more as a modulator. In the cave setting, the delayed bass bounces with a wobble unmatchable with modern digital renditions. The ending refers back to the beginning, sailing away from the beach that the contact was made on.

I generally try to avoid using this much of the actual sound from a clip except in special moments. For this one it would have been neutered without the dialogue. I think it allowed the music to blossom more than I expected- I might even try this approach again. I'll end this with a question for you all- do you feel like the dialogue/subtitles enriched this video? Or maybe on the contrary, did it take anything away from the music?

If you have a chance, watch this entire movie. It's incredible.