... Panned as one of the worst movies of all time, “Next Year at Marienbad” would seem to offer little of interest to the serious cinemaphile. It is informally plain and barely viewable. The linear time is scrambled in a world where people appear trapped in a shadowy place beyond the outer marker of reality. Exiled on a deserted island, a Christ-haunted journalist-turned-filmmaker attempts to persuade a married woman from his past to help him produce a science fiction-themed pastiche to the 1961 French New Wave classic, “Last Year at Marienbad.” Through this act of artistic creation, he expects to bring about the death of time and the birth of a new religion. But there are problems. For one, the woman doesn’t seem to know or remember him. Nevertheless, Mark proceeds with the production of his sacred film, a process which causes him – and maybe the woman and maybe everyone on the planet – to be caught up in a strange time/space loop. The word “surreal” does not do justice to this odd and abhorrent product of a troubled mind.
Viewing the 168-hour film, one gets the feeling that Mark Sheldon is attempting to hold true to an overarching design, a crystal structure whose exacting pattern appears to alter the reality that his characters attempt to live out in the world. That structure is in fact the Jewell Effect, a scientific phenomenon accidentally discovered by Sheldon’s grandfather. A portrait photographer in mid 20th century Waco, Texas, Jewell Poe conducted experiments in color photography. His intent was to create a new process that would reduce costs, thereby making color pictures affordable for the masses. His experiments did not result in a commercially viable film stock; however, they did result in a technique for creating and sustaining a rift in the space/time continuum. This technique was discovered and refined by Dr. Adolfo Morel, a controversial scientist who is believed to be a member of the government/extraterrestrial conspiracy that is dedicated to creating a race of human/alien hybrids that can be manipulated as artificial deities by Ozona International for the purpose of controlling the global populace.
This diabolical technique has the ability to merge time and space, generating a new reality that is superimposed over the existing one. An unfortunate side effect of the Jewell Effect is mass psychosis; however, Morel is attempting to keep mental illness at a manageable level by introducing floride9 into the global water supply.
A terrifying technology, to be sure. The Jewell Effect is the new Deity and the new Reality. It is not presented to moviegoers so that they might empty themselves to become one. Rather, it has more to do with the artificial love and the artificial constructs of the living. Many wail. The dead remain alive in the maker. With this terrifying technology, love and various artificial constructs, the Marienbadists continue to express interest in the increasing catalogue of ontological results. They wish for Sheldon to actually employ the technique. Sheldon is not their new religious leader. He is their new religion. Filmmakers have a love affair with and about ghosts that weep. They are the reality makers. ...