I've always loved surrealist art, in almost all of it's forms. One of the hardest forms to pull off (my opinion as a fan only) is surrealism in film. I think it's probably because what can actually be shown in film has grown so incredibly large through technology. And let's face it folks, one mans' surrealism is another mans' confusing barrage of images that make absolutely no sense. Some surrealist art manages to transcend language and tell a story that strikes more on an emotional level. With others, some understanding of the artists' background and culture is an important asset in drawing meaning from the seemingly random images, charged with telling a story. Frontier, based on the surrealist novel 'Froktog' by Mulnar Typsthat, is not the type of surrealism that transcends language, and when it comes to understanding the artist's culture, your out of luck, because Frontier is a Bulbovian story. Bulbovia is a land of myth and so is the person who wrote about it. Your guess is as good as mine here. I'm still a bit baffled by the whole experience. Did I mention that this particular work of art is spoken in Bulbovian and subtitled in English?

I thought that I actually started out with a fair understanding of the story. Two members of the Expansionist Research Corps are going out into wild and uncharted territories to gather data on things like climate and vegetation. OK! I'm with you so far. Never mind that one of the guys is confined to a wheelchair and trying to roll through the wilderness. And never mind that regardless of language there was very little dialog for a very long time. The next thing I know, a shaggy guy wakes up in some tall grass with bugs in his mouth. They crawl out and the guy goes to this very elaborate metallurgic shop in the middle of this uncharted wild territory. Now it starts to get weird.

The guy in the wheelchair stands up and throws it at his fellow officer. Some how he thinks he's only fooling himself into thinking he's well? Mean while there are two beings; One light and one dark, twirling in a field and throwing eggs at people. The gentle man who used to be in a wheelchair (none of them have names) calls his wife on a tree phone and dumps her. She in turn, sells the twins and sails to her husband in a washtub. Animals start to appear where there seemed to be none before. Cows, farm equipment and a dog appear as if by magic. I think you get the idea but I could probably go on for pages! I'll spare you, I won't.

From a technical standpoint, there was nothing wrong with the actual look of the film. There were a few spots where it's hard to tell if there was some glitch in the editing process or if the subtle skips were actually intended. I guess there aren't any real mistakes in surrealist themes then, are there? Presented full frame, with fairly impressive camera work and even some of the obviously intentional unsteadiness in the more hallucinogenic scenes was handled quite well. Audio was presented in 'Hi-Fi Stereo' and again, it's difficult to tell whether the fades and breaks in the sound were accidental or intentional. All told inn both the appearance and sound it made for an unsettling mix and a complicated ride from start to finish. Honestly, it was a lot of work for little substance in the end. Extras include a commentary with filmmakers David and Nathan Zellner and cast members Willy Wiggins and Stephanie Wilson, an animated Bulbovian War Bond PSA, new music video by Precarious Watehaus Dwellars, Bulbovia factoids, From Froktog to Frontier, deleted scenes and more.

I think it's safe to say that I just didn't get it. The movie ended with me having no real idea as to what I had just seen, why I saw it, or even what story it actually told from start to finish. I'm not even sure if there really was a complete story here or if the Zellners are trying to hide behind the forgiving nature of so-called 'surrealism.' I do know that I'll be putting this title on the darkest shelf I have where it's sure to do the least amount of harm.