"A highpoint from the 'innocent' years of American underground cinema, and something of an enduring delight for real film buffs. Mekas' comedy starts from an enthusiastic parody of French 'new wave' concepts like using two actresses to play one character, and manages to go on to incorporate references (part satire, part homage) to what seems like every other branch of cinema extant. It ranges from samurai movies to Chaplinesque slapstick, and it hits the intended tone between love and scepticism far more often than you’d have thought possible. The main thing is that it's recklessly enthusiastic about itself and about cinema in general — and the enthusiasm is infectious." - Time Out Film Guide
"All hail Adolfas Mekas, an impecunious director who in his first feature film has produced a far-out and very funny farce, the first cubistic comedy of the new world cinema. The weirdest, wooziest, wackiest comedy of the year. A gloriously fresh experience in the cinema." - Time Magazine
Adolfas Mekas, born in Lithuania, arrived in the United States with his brother Jonas in 1949. They founded Film Culture together, the magazine of independent cinema, in 1954. Adolfas Mekas' Hallelujah the Hills bears witness to his knowledge and love of cinema, as well as the immense freedom to be found in all the films of the New American Cinema.
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Extras
20 page bilingual English-French booklet with an article by Frederique Devaux.
Bonus Material:
Hallelujah the Villa by David Avallone, 2006, 28 min
The First New York Film Festival, from Camera Three, 1963, 9 min
