starblazertv

The Thirteenth Floor

Recently rewatched Fassbinder's World On A Wire, and also finished reading the book that miniseries and this film is based on, Simulacron-3, so I wanted to give this film a rewatch. The Thirteenth Floor is one of several 90's films dealing with the nature of false or simulated realities, two of which are some of my favorites. This released the same year as The Matrix but not receiving the critical acclaim of that film. In regards as an adaptation, 13 is very loose with the source material, removing the politics, bureaucracy, and financial undercurrents for a more streamlined story for a contemporary audience. Simulacron-3: We made a simulation of the 2040's(?) for political and financial gain. World On A Wire: We made a simulation of the 1970's(?) for political(?) and financial gain. 13th Floor: We made a simulation of the 1930's just because we can. From both a filmmaking and adaptation perspective, World On A Wire is probably the superior film and closer to the book. This is very much the "Hollywood" version of the book, the film to watch if subtext and nuance aren't important to you, and you don't want to watch Fassbinder's 3 & 1/2 hour long version. Something I'd like to see someday (other than a new adaptation of the book) is an alternate cut of this film. There was apparently more scenes that pushed the film over the 2 hour mark before the final cut, so I wonder if 13 could've been more challenging and engaging if those were left in. There's an alternate ending to 13 that was shot, and it's more dark and foreboding, less storybook, that might've made the film more memorable. I prefer the dark ambiguous ending, but the "future" ending is cool too. The final point I want to mention is how when Evil Doug is being asked at the end why he's doing all these awful things, and he says verbatim "because it was FUN." Like that's all the justification he needs. His delivery is unintentionally hilarious and meme worthy. Doug also wears the number 67 at one point early in the film, and I laughed. What the fuck is 67?