ALTERED STATES + Preshow by Sagan & Sigourney!

ALTERED STATES (1980, 102 mins) The ultimate cinematic head trip of the 1980s, British renegade Ken Russell’s first Hollywood production—adapted by the legendary screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky from his own novel—is part hallucinogenic freak-out, part gonzo creature feature, part transcendent love story, all played at a fever pitch. Fearless scientist Eddie Jessup (William Hurt) attempts to plumb nothing less than the unborn soul of mankind, using a sensory-deprivation tank and extra helpings of mushrooms. Ken Russell, the late, lamented master of freak-out fantasia, takes us along for the phantasmagorical ride and transports us—thanks, in part, to the manic mobility of the camerawork—into Jessup’s subjective states, merging psychedelic special effects, hyperreal dream sequences, and the director’s typically dazzling and blasphemous take on Christian symbolism. Musical performance before the film by Sagan & Sigourney!