After Blue (Dirty Paradise)
Bertrand Mandico's queer psychedelic space oddity imagines a post-apocalyptic world with no men, where a teenager has one mission: kill Kate Bush
After Blue is a unique, psychedelic trip of seductive and colourfully filtered images that is captivating, electrifying and, frankly, a bit exhausting too. The setting is the eponymous After Blue, a savage planet in a brand new galaxy where humans move to after Earth becomes uninhabitable. This new world has no screens, no technology, and no men – they were the first to die off when their hair started growing inside them.
At the centre of Bertrand Mandico’s post-apocalyptic fantasy is Roxy, a teenager who unearths the body of a Polish murderer who's been buried alive. Her name is Katajena Bushowsky, but she goes by Kate Bush. Roxy regrets the rescue, though, when she and her mum get blamed for Kate Bush's fresh crimes and are forced to abandon their home and go on the run.
The storytelling is uneven, but Mandico’s always inventive visuals make up for it. Even when the plot lacks character development and starts to drag, it’s easy to get lost in After Blue's illogical and hypnotic world full of beautiful and grotesque imagery. Through oversaturated landscapes and with the mission of killing Kate Bush, Roxy slowly learns both the rules of her planet and her own desires; for all its flights of fancy, this is a journey of self-discovery.
Mandico’s flawed but somewhat fascinating dirty paradise works as a pastiche of 70s sci-fi nostalgia and queer aesthetics that stands out for its dream-like atmosphere so bizarre that you just have to see it to believe it.
Released 7 Oct by Anti-Worlds Releasing; certificate TBC