Rewind // The Dark Side of the Moon turns 50

Pink Floyd’s 1973 masterpiece still has a cultural presence.

Movies //

A satiating thriller

If you’ve ever dug through a pile of moth-eaten band T-shirts at your local Value Village, you’re most likely familiar with Pink Floyd. Since 1965, the progrock band has gifted the world some of the most incredible psychedelic music ever recorded. Listen to your dad’s favorite radio station for about an hour and you’re likely to hear at least one of their compositions (likely Money or Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2). Die hard fans will assert that their favorite Floyd album is one you’ve never heard of, like Animals, Atom Heart Mother, or possibly Ummagumma. But for the rest of us normies, the band’s most iconic album is The Dark Side of the Moon. This year it’s turning 50.

Whether or not you’ve listened to the album is irrelevant to its legacy. Since 1973, the iconic cover art has been endlessly printed on dorm room posters, T-shirts, and other random bits of memorabilia. It’s likely that at some point in your life, the image of a beam of light penetrating a triangular prism and splitting into a rainbow has occupied some amount of real estate in your mind. While gearing up for the album’s 50th anniversary, the “rainbow” cover was reworked into a suitable logo. Hilariously, a handful of conservative boomers and trolls angrily took to Facebook, accusing the band of going “woke.” Obviously, the band’s long history of pairing socially conscious lyrics with searing guitar solos has been lost on this crowd.

Another reason for the album’s enduring legacy may be the conspiracy theory which has grown up alongside it. The "Dark Side of the Rainbow” theory claims that listening to the album while watching the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz produces a strangely synchronous experience.

All this supplementary trivia is fascinating, but what about the music itself? The album begins with a frightening cacophony of sounds and screams before melting into the beautiful opening number “Breathe (In The Air).” Then, a harrowing assortment of synthesized bleeps and bloops hurry us along to the next song, “Time.” The lyrics are haunting and existential: “And then one day you find / ten years have got behind you / no one told you when to run / you missed the starting gun.” Next, we arrive at “The Great Gig in the Sky” featuring stunning vocals by Clare Torry (this song is at the center of a recent TikTok trend in which users attempt to recreate her incredible performance). “Money,” the most radiofriendly cut on the album kickstarts side two, which is chock-full of songs that explore the inescapable realities of human existence. “Us and Them,” “Any Colour You Like,” and “Brain Damage” delve into greed, war, lunacy, and death, before culminating in a breathtaking finale.

Dark Side of the Moon remains a timeless classic to this day. If you have forty-two minutes and fifty seconds to spare, I suggest you put on some headphones, tune in, and take a journey to the outer limits of space.

It’s not often I find myself pleasantly surprised when watching a film. I often go in with expectations, and as I watch these expectations shift as I amend them with predictions. In fact I can’t remember the last film I watched where I didn’t try to guess what would happen next or how it would end. The Menu, however, was unlike any film viewing experience I have had in recent memory. I went in thinking, this is going to be one of those comedic dinner mysteries in the line of Glass Onion, or a comedic thriller/horror like Red State. I was off by a bit, but more importantly, I had (for once) simply enjoyed the film without predicting the ending. I want to be clear that this was not by choice. The film kept me on the edge of my seat and ensnared my focus with such fortitude that I hadn’t been able to take a moment to predict anything. It is hard for me to analyze or describe exactly what it was about this film I enjoyed so much. The premise of guests on a remote island being tormented and killed is not unfamiliar. “Eat the rich” and “servants’ revolt” tropes are not new concepts. Even the deaths were not anything innovative. But, somehow, it was an amazing film. If anything The Menu proves that we don’t need to shake the originality faery until her wings give out to come out with a masterful piece of art. I would not describe this movie as original, but I will advocate for it being well done. This movie has impressed me so much that I felt compelled to look up the director as I did not recognize his name. His name is Mark Mylod, and he seems to have directed a few TV favourites of mine (Game of Thrones, Shameless, and Entourage), but this is his first film I’ve watched, and my only wish is that he makes more.

One example of how this was a well-made thriller was the comedic aspects. Typically in thriller comedies there are build-ups of tension, and then something funny will happen to shift the mood. Surprisingly, this film had a few moments of dark humour that tickled me, but not once did these chuckles threaten the integrity of the suspense felt throughout the film. The balance between tension and comedy equated to a harmonic thriller/satire. Ultimately, the acting was the sauce that really brought the dish together.

Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult were the perfect choice to play the mysterious young couple, and John Leguizamo was clearly having fun playing the role of the diva movie star. In fact all the characters felt natural in their role; my personal favourite was Ralph Fiennes as the oh-so-serious culinary genius.

On all fronts I would have to say that this movie delivers. The script was clever and engaging, the cinematography was breathtakingly beautiful, the casting was on point, the acting felt natural and believable, the soundtrack was essential to the experience, and once more for good measure, the directing was masterful. From start to finish this was truly, for me, a movie well done, and perfectly seasoned.