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Aleister Crowley: Legend of the Beast
UK 2013
produced by Dom Lenoir, Mark Game
directed by Dom Lenoir
starring Matthew Sheppard, Val Monk, John Symes, Kathryn Carpenter, Jullian Lamorell Roberts, Henry Amphlett, Melanie Denholme, Fiona Davies, Kate Young, Jojo Shaw, Pollyanna Richards, William Ludwig, Anna Elena Pepe, Howard Cortlett, George Burkinshaw, Rebecca Lee Sweell, Paul T. Horsfield, Claire Bowen, Iain Peacock, Elle Black, Alessandra Bisi, Dom Lenoir, Mark Game
written by Dom Lenoir, CGI by Dave Patterson
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Aleister Crowley (John Symes) - nowadays remembered as one of the
greatest occultists, ceremonial magicians and dark poets, but reviled in
his times - lies on his death bed, with Rose (Val Monk), love of his life
and mother of his children, by his side, having her record the story of
his life for posterity. It starts with a rather arrogant young Aleister
(played in the flashbacks by Matthew Sheppard), and how his fascination
for chess but his abhorrence to playing by the rules led him to strive for
greater sources of knowledge - which ultimately leads him to a magick
cult, which he threatens to break up in no time as he refuses to accept
the rules there, but he finds an unexpected ally in the cult's leader
Mathers (Jullian Lamorell Roberts). The cult still breaks up eventually,
but Mathers sticks with him, seeing great potential in Crowley.
Eventually, Crowley meets and falls in love with Rose (in the flashbacks
played by Melanie Denholme), the one woman who seems to understand him,
the one woman who he - never short on sexual companionship - actually
falls in love with. The couple loses their first daughter Lilith though,
then Crowley leaves Rose alone for months at a time on his quest all
around the world to seek wisdom ... so eventually return home and find her
an alcoholic. They are divorced eventually, and after that, Crowley's
quest for wisdom but also notoriety reaches new heights, and he has woman
after woman - many of whom betray his trust though - but everything feels
a bit empty without Rose, until he one day receives a fateful call from
her ... Aleister Crowley: Legend of the Beast is an in
many ways fascinating movie: It concentrates on Crowley the (very human)
man rather than the myth that has grown around him over the years, it is
beautifully photographed and atmospherically directed. However, with the
best intentions it tries to do a bit too much, mainly when tryint to pack
too much of Crowley's story into a mere 90 minutes of film on an obviously
low budget, which leaves too many aspects of the man and his life
under-explored or only hinted at, and much of it is just packed into
on-screen narration by John Symes as the old Crowley - who just lacks the
charisma to carry these parts of the movie. Still, a very interesting
variation on the normally much duller bio-pic genre, and a pretty
fascinating take on Alisteir Crowley.
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