Pandaemonium (2001)

Very disappointing...

Very best movie i ever watch

Really Surprised!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

I thought this movie was pretty good, actually. Sure it was kinda weird, especially at the end credits, but even then it gave it a very different touch. Sure it might of been a little melodramatic with the relationship between Coleridge and Wordsworth, but I bet there is also quite a bit of melodrama in the lives' of those who hate this movie. However, this movie does deserve very different veiws because it has a hard time knowing what it wants to be, but also, it deserves praise for trying to explain a very complicated subjects in very complicated times.And I thought the end credits were actually one of the best I've ever seen. It shows that it doesn't take itself too seriously. I think the review posted on this site is ridiculous... it just shows how the reviewer has no patience for something they don't understand right away.

I wandered lonely as a cow into the video store. . . and then I rented this film. Alas. I think the director was trying to channel the spirit of Ken Russell while he was making this film. Unfortunately, it was only during the last 15 minutes that the movie took a full bodied lurch into unintentionally comic melodramatic absurdity. With its utter disregard for the historic record, "Pandaemonium" attempts to do for England's greatest Romantic poets what "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" did for the Arthurian legends - but (sadly) without the wit or the humor.Why is it that so many films about poets fail to convey any essence of poetry? Perhaps if you don't know anything about Wordsworth or Coleridge (or you don't care) you might be satisfied with "Pandaemonium," but I find it impossible to recommend a film that slanders the former while portraying the latter as a slathering dope fiend.(I did enjoy the "Xanadu" music video shown over the ending credits - now that was truly trashy.)

I knew some of Wordsworth's poems from reading, and a few of Coleridge by repute. This film was a very enjoyable and wonderfully acted experience from which I learned, as well as laughed and sighed. Now I want to read more of both, and return to the north-east of England again.

I am not a historian, and have not read either William Wordsworth's accounts of his relationship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, or visa versa. Before going into this film I was vaguely aware of their friendship, turned rivalry. Based on the 2 reviews available on Amazon.com, I almost didn't buy the DVD.However, I weighed the facts: I love both the poems of Coleridge and of Wordsworth that I have read. They are epic and broad in scope, as well as eloquent and lyrical. I am also an admirer of both Linus Roache and John Hannah's work, and find Julian Temple an interesting director to say the least. I thought: how bad could this combination be? My didactical reasoning won out and I bought and viewed this film, and I'm glad of it. And I can only recommend that others follow my lead.Is it historically accurate? As far as I know, which is not a lot, in this matter - no! That said, it is trying to make a statement, not be a documentary. Is Wordsworth displayed as an ogre in favor of praising Coleridge's drug-assisted genius? Not really. Wordsworth's opinion - that Coleridge's genius was not worth every price - was fairly portrayed in the film. Coleridge's drug addition is also not prettied up, or made to look romantic. Fair is fair. They were both geniuses in their own right, but - like us all - mortals as well, with all the flaws that go with it. They obviously became rivals, which is also - unfortunately - very human; we the audience have the opportunity to recognize that we don't need to choose between them.Panning this film for its historical inaccuracies is like the Maritimer shooting the albatross...it goes against the nature of the thing. Experience the film as a poem, and relax about the details. Isn't that what both of their poetry tried to teach us?Beautifully acted and magnificently filmed. Please give this little gem a chance!