Search - Population: 1 on DVD

The last man alive is a one man band

Zack Davisson | Seattle, WA, USA | 01/09/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you were looking for a punk rock musical version of The Quiet Earth, then you have found it. A nuclear war has wiped out the world, and only one single human being remains alive. That man is Tomata Du Plenty, and he is about to get weird for you.



In the vein of films such as Phantom of the Paradise and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, "Population 1" is an eclectic mix of music, imagery and bizarre I-took-way-too-much-acid state of mind. This is the kind of movie that was passed from punk rock kid to punk rock kid during the 80's, on an old VHS copy with no label and barely visible from too many viewings. It isn't the most professional film, being cropped together from random clips that could be filmed when ever the cast was together and budget permitted, but it is so far and away from the "typical movie" that it can blown you mind a little even today. The director clearly set the stage for what would later become MTV-style editing. Needing to merge the various clips, he relied heavily on effects and imaginative imagery to forge an ordered picture from the chaos. And there is a sweet stop-motion shaving scene.



The story is almost not worth mentioning, because it does little but lay the stage for the director and actors to play with each other. Director Rene Daalder (who made the excellent documentary Here Is Always Somewhere Else) got involved in the burgeoning punk scene when he worked with Russ Meyer on the unreleased Sex Pistols flick "Who Killed Bambi". This gave him contacts in the scene, especially with Tomata Du Plenty of the synth-punk band The Screamers. Tomata and Rene dreamed of doing a project together, starting and stopping on a film called "Mensch", and Rene shot various footage of Tomata over the years, which was then cobbled together into "Population 1". Other early punkers pop in to make appearances through the film, including El Duce from The Mentors and Al Hansen and his little grandson Beck. Yes, that Beck. All of this random mélange is packed into "Population 1" somehow, with Tomata providing the narrative as the last man alive. Hard to explain, but fun to watch.



This DVD set is a pretty sweet package as well. It is a two disk set, with "Population 1" on one disk, and a host of extras on the second. You get about 40 minutes of concert footage of "The Screamers", an unreleased music video by Penelope Huston, an interview with Vamipira, who also puts in an appearance in the film, and a whole bunch of other cool stuff. Like with "Here is Always Somewhere Else", Cult Epics has pulled out all the stops to give you a complete package."