DVD Review: Gospel According To Philip K. Dick, The (D)

The Gospel According to Philip K. Dick (2000)
Directed by Mark Steensland
Interviews with Paul Williams, Robert Anton Wilson, Scott Apel, Jay Kinney, Ray Nelson, Miriam Lloyd and more
MPAA: UR
Grade: D

Review by Ellyn Elm

I can't tell you how excited I was when I learned about this title. I'm a HUGE Dick fan (ha ha)! Seriously, I've read tons of PKD and couldn't wait to watch The Gospel According to Philip K. Dick. Finally, someone was making the movie I have been waiting to see for nearly 15 years. Sadly, gentle readers, after viewing Mr. Steensland's effort, I must urge you: do not watch!

This movie is just plain bad. It features a series of painfully boring interviews intercut with tedious animation and soundtrack that only a crank addict coming off a week-long binge could tolerate. The Gospel has no discernible structure: one minute we're looking at a house that PKD once lived in and the next we're in the library stacks at CSU Fullerton looking at the shelves that house his writings. I kid you not: at least 10 minutes of the film are devoted to the bizarre ramblings of a university librarian who discusses, at length, the procedure for accessing the PKD collection.

OK, OK, so forget that the production value is poor, forget that the interviews are boring and rife with non-sequiturs. Surely a movie about Philip K. Dick must discuss his brilliant work, right? In fact, The Gospel According the Philip K. Dick features a complete absence of any discussion whatsoever of PKD's writings.

The mind boggles.

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