Mock Up on Mu

USA • 2008 • 114m •

• Directed by: Craig Baldwin. • Starring: Stoney Burke, Jeri Lynn Cohen, David Cox, Ed Holmes, Damon Packard, Michelle Silva, Kalman Spelletich..

Set it 13 segments and spiraling between New Age, Science Fiction, and film essay, Mock Up on Mu is a definitive celluloid dream, where tomorrow's landscapes and yesterday's pop culture merge to ask about today's technological morality, especially as concerns our funding of weapons developments over energy and others.

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1:32

Review:

The latest from S.F.-based cult auteur Craig Baldwin, "Mock Up On Mu", despite its rather avant garde style, tells a fairly straightforward narrative tale. Set in the year 2020, L. Ron Hubbard (Damon Packard), famed founder of the Scientology religion, commands a moon base, Mu, with an army of his followers; the base is under contract with the U.S. government to dispose of depleted uranium from the earth's surface. Hubbard, seemingly omnipotent in the universe of this film, has built a giant theme park on the moon, which he wants to use to lure as many of the ultra-rich as he can to the moon, presumably to join his minions. The only problem is that in order to actualize this plan, Hubbard needs help from the Earth's surface, in the form of Lockheed Martin (Stoney Burke), a rich arms dealer in the Vegas area. Hubbard needs Lockheed Martin to build a giant rocket ship in the desert outside of Vegas, in order to have a viable means of transporting people to the moon. This is where things get sticky, however. In order to convince Lockheed to build the ship, Hubbard must first find Jack Parsons (Kalman Spelletich), a famed rocket scientist with connections to the underground world of Aleister Crowley, a world where "sex magick" fights the forces of evil industrialism. Apparently, disgusted with the evil deeds he was asked to perform for the US Government when formerly employed by them, Parsons faked his own death and fled to the Nevada desert, the very sight of some of the original nuclear bomb tests, in order to pursue his research for the good of humanity...

OK, so maybe the plot isn't that simple. And the story is not told in a style which you will ever, EVER see in a typical multiplex. On top of original footage shot by Baldwin, the story is told through a montage of images, some bizarre, some silly, some downright sublime, which have been culled from any conceivable source you can think of, from old Japanese monster movies to Home-Ec reels from the 50's and everywhere in between. Anyone with a passion for obscure and arcane relics of Hollywood's cold war days will have a field day watching how this movie seamlessly incorporates endless amounts of these nuggets into the original footage, in order to tell a bold and truly original tale of conspiracy theory Americana.

The gears are set into motion when Hubbard sends Agent C to earth in order to manipulate things for his favor. Turns out Agent C ain't who she seems to be...

Attempting to describe the plot is almost pointless. If you get a chance to watch this movie, just do it, as Nike would say.

Review by Soup Kitchen from the Internet Movie Database.

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