Ah Pook Is Here.
Ah Pook Is Here.
| 01 October 1994 (USA)
Ah Pook Is Here. Trailers

A disturbingly organic-looking figure speaks to us of life, politics and death as the symbol of the common man toils away. Written and narrated by William S. Burroughs.

Reviews
Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
Michelle Ridley The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity
Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.
Abegail Noëlle While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
MartinHafer This is an animated short that probably will make most people shake their heads and say "huh?!" repeatedly. And, while I freely admit that it was strikingly original, it was also generally incomprehensible and rather ugly....but original!! To describe the film adequately would probably require us both to be under the influence of massive amounts of drugs--it's that strange. And so it's fitting that the film is an odd reading by William Burroughs (an on again, off again drug addict and writer). The film begins with a world-like object made out of scrap metal (or something) and bombs and rockets flying about it. Then, out of the blue come two creatures that look like demons and chicken guts. The whole time the primary one rants on and on about bad government and why America sucks.While there must be a lot more to it, this really is the gist of it. If you dislike America or like really weird things, then this is right up your alley. Otherwise, it is slow going and difficult--though I still must applaud the odd artistry and design of this amazingly bizarre work of art.
barlowenberg I've got a few requests for that time when friends and family come to celebrate my transition to lands unimagined: play Jim Morrison's farewell paean "The End", and watch "Ah, Pook Is Here" as many times as it takes to absorb Philip Hunt's brilliant rendering of the animated genius of William Burroughs translating love into death. And it may take a few times through to pick up the pieces as Burroughs cuts and pastes on the fly. The title is that of a longer Burroughs piece published in 1979 - briefly excerpted for the film. Hunt takes us on a short dark journey with philosophical Pook the Destroyer, weaving the haunted narration into a whimsically nightmarish cosmos, then descending within to the inevitable conclusion.
rbverhoef Although it looks pretty good, with a claymation figure speaking to us about politics and death, it is a little boring. I stopped listening to the voice of the figure because it couldn't keep my attention. The voice did sound good and the music was nice also, but you need to have your attention with it to enjoy a thing like this...
alice liddell Possibly only for William Burroughs completists - the writer narrates a despairing tirade against mainstream American ills framed in a sci-fi apocalyptic context, an organic planet in a symmetrical, monochrome universe. The reassuring, lilting, pensioner's voice, the cool despair and horror of the words, Pook the turkey, Burroughs' representative, suicide as response to compromised life. The theorem-like clarity of the animation makes it watchable.