The Cathedral of New Emotions harnesses the transformational properties of animation
Even if you lose track of who is who and what is what, The Cathedral of New Emotions offers many rich moment-to-moment rewards.
Click here for Now Showing in Madison, July 28–August 4, 2025
The Cathedral of New Emotions | Helmut Herbst | Germany | 2006 | 60 minutes
Screening at Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Rooftop Cinema, Thursday, July 31, after sunset
Today’s post represents an important aspect of what I hope to do with Moving Image Madison as both a local film programmer and film critic in Madison. I’ve often wanted to engage with the films that I’ve programmed a bit more publicly, something beyond program notes for a screening but not to be taken as an objective review (obviously I want you to see the films I help bring in). So let’s set aside the “should you see it?” question. Of course you should see The Cathedral of New Emotions, and you should read the following as a contribution to the discussion of the film that I hope you will join.
That said, I’m also looking for new ways to get the word out about local film screenings in general, and mine in particular. Someone has to get out there and bang the drum, so it might as well be me. (Andrew Rogers and Emily Taylor at MMoCA recorded a few short social media videos with me, here is the first installment.)
This part of my mission is inspired by filmmaker, organizer, and critic Jonas Mekas (1922-2019). He understood all aspects of building a local film culture, so he never hesitated to do what needed to be done, regardless of the traditional confines of filmmaking, curating, and film criticism.
Now then, on to the task at hand: Discussing The Cathedral of New Emotions, which plays this Thursday, July 31 after sunset at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art for my eighth season at Rooftop Cinema.
Plot wise, The Cathedral of New Emotions is not particularly complicated, but its storytelling style demands that you pay close attention right from the beginning. Two deliberate obstacles get in the way of this. First, you’re not always sure what individual lines of dialogue mean, or whether they are intended to be important story details, unfamiliar cultural (or counter-cultural) norms, or absurd non-sequiturs.
Second, understanding the plot is not the primary pleasure of watching the film. While it is certainly possible to walk away from The Cathedral of New Emotions understanding the basic arc of the plot, the film is far more interesting on a local level, moment to moment, scene to scene, in terms of piecing together what we’re looking at, and appreciating the textures of sound and image. Many first time viewers will likely hover around this local level of the film because of the mind bending quality of the visuals.
I’d advise paying close attention to the first few scenes in the film, especially when the characters are introduced through a voice over. All of the voices are hard to distinguish from each other because they are modified with a robot-like synthesizer filter.
We’re told that eight people are on board a shipping container that is held by a giant hand flying through outer space. The Commander (Bakunskaja) is a physically imposing woman with carnal cravings. A couple, Parmagino and Matomeh, seem to share a domestic space. The watchman in charge of security, Dierksen, has a long frog-like tongue. Natascha, the interstellar navigator, can be found with her hands and head resting on a glass table case of what appear to be dildos or penises (or both?). Twins named James and Jones, who apparently boarded the vessel mid-journey, encountering the ship while on flying waterbeds, comment on the action and almost always get each other’s name wrong. And Dr. Quistard, whom we discover is the source of the voice over introducing us to these characters, just wants to know how the Vietnam War ended.
The vessel departed the Earth in the 1970s, and it is unclear exactly how much time has passed. Dr. Quistard explains that everyone is “retirement age” now, but they have not visibly aged. But every time the ship passes a black hole, everyone shape shifts into a grey goo, which the Commander explains is a manifestation of their actual age.
One last person joins the journey. When opening a monthly shipment rocket from the discount store Aldi(!), the crew discovers an attractive young man named Mulligan. Mulligan becomes a kind of a surrogate for us, learning about how life in the shipping container works.
The bright colors of the film and the often single-color backgrounds remind me of mid-century modernist design in UPA studio cartoons. But the function that the background serves often shifts from scene to scene. Sometimes backgrounds represent a three-dimensional space (with a character shadow falling on the back wall). Other times they serve a purely graphic function (a color, a pattern). Sometimes the background serves as a strange fusion of both: A solid background color will at first seem to be an infinite void, but then a character will enter the room as if they’re walking through a wall.
The character animation is a kind of crude rotoscoping of basic character movements (and sometimes these movements are obviously looped and repeated). This kind of rotoscoping does not try to capture nuanced facial movements, so characters often seem expressionless, which adds to the defamiliarization already present with the synthesized voices.
Director Herbst seems far more interested in the transformational properties of animation than nuanced character animation, and it is in these surreal and psychedelic transformations that the animation in the film gains its power. As the film’s plot, such as it is, reaches a climax, time becomes a bit more abstract and elliptical, size and scale become a bit more unclear and ambiguous, and the physicality of the characters themselves becomes more malleable.
The film is very dense with detail from moment to moment, and it might have been more of a challenge to keep up with it with a duration longer than its 60 minutes. But, as I mentioned at the top, in broad terms the plot itself is relatively simple, and possibly even underwhelming if that’s all that you’re looking for. Your enjoyment of the film may depend upon how willing you are to engage with these moment to moment details and discover their rich rewards.
Now Playing In Madison: July 27 to August 4, 2025
Please confirm showtimes with the venues (follow venue links where provided). The commercial theaters update their weekend listings on Wednesdays.
Comments here are not reviews of the films, they are usually a response to the trailer, a summary of the buzz I have heard, or just snark.
Wisconsin Union Directorate Film
CREED 7/28
THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG 8/4
UW-Cinematheque
Cinematheque Summer programming on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays through August 1. All screenings begin at 7:00pm
NARROW MARGIN (1990) 7/30
LES MISÉRABLES (1995) 7/31
THE BEACH OF THE WAR GODS 8/1
UW Ctek wraps up its summer programming with this martial arts extravaganza (“wide screen jammed with 3,500 warriors”) directed by and starring “Jimmy” Wang Yu. See my comments in the video posted on Friday. Here’s a different trailer which showcases the image quality of the recent 2k restoration.
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art: Rooftop Cinema
THE CATHEDRAL OF NEW EMOTIONS 7/31, 9pm (after sunset). See comments in video at top of post.
AMC Theatres, Flix Brewhouse, Marcus Theatres
AMC SCREEN UNSEEN: AUGUST 4 (2025) at AMC.
AMC SCREEN UNSEEN: JULY 28 (2025) at AMC.
BAD GUYS 2, THE (2025) at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
CATVIDEOFEST at Flix.
Saturday, August 2 and Sunday, August 3. The trailer more or less explains it, if the title itself doesn’t.
EDDINGTON (2025) at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
ELIO (2025) at AMC, Point.
F1 MOVIE, THE (2025) at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS, THE (2025) at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
GOONIES, THE (1985) at Flix.
Flix Faves series
HARI HARA VEERA MALLU PART-1 SWORD VS SPIRIT (2025) at AMC.
Indian Telugu-language swashbuckler action film.
HOME, THE (2025) at AMC, Point.
Pete Davidson walks through another feature length film, this time a horror film from the creator of The Purge.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (2025) at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
HOUSE ON EDEN (2025) at AMC.
A Shudder release starring social media stars Kris Collins and Celina Meyers.
I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (2025) at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
ICK at Point, Palace.
I’m going to try to see this. See my comments in the video posted on Friday.
JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH (2025) at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
KINGDOM (2025) at AMC, Point.
Indian Telugu-language spy action drama. First installment in a franchise that will have at least one sequel. (How many films make a franchise? Maybe I should just say there is already a sequel in the works.)
LILO & STITCH at Palace.
MARCUS MYSTERY MOVIE (7/28) at Point, Palace.
MIGRATION (2023) at AMC.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING (2025) at AMC.
NAKED GUN, THE (2025) at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
NOTHING BUT A WINNER at Point, Palace.
OH, HI! (2025) at AMC, Point.
Directed by Sophie Brooks and starring Molly Gordon (Booksmart; Shiva Baby; TV’s The Bear). This had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Read Rob Thomas’s review.
ROMEO ET JULIETTE: MET SUMMER ENCORE 2025 at Point.
SHE RIDES SHOTGUN (2025) at AMC.
Indie crime thriller starring Taron Egerton (Kingsman films, Rocketman), adapted from the novel by Jordan Harper. Screening at 6:00pm on Thursday, but the official opening is Friday, August 1.
SHREK (2001) at AMC.
SKETCH (2025) at AMC, Point, Palace.
SMURFS (2025) at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
SORRY, BABY (2025) at AMC, Point.
Indie dark comedy written, directed, and starring Eva Victor and produced by Barry Jenkins. Another film this week that debuted at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. This one was released by A24 back in June, but that probably won’t help much here when it is up against another A24 release, Eddington.
SUMMER WARS 4K at Point.
Re-release and 4K remaster of Mamoru Hosoda’s 2009 film. I liked his The Boy and the Beast (2015). His 2018 film, Mirai, was nominated for Best Animated Feature at that year’s Academy Awards.
SUNSET BOULEVARD 75TH ANNIVERSARY at Flix, Point, Palace.
Sunday, August 3 and Monday, August 4. See Marcus Point and Palace screening times here. See Flix Brewhouse screening times here.
SUPERMAN (2025) at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
TOGETHER (2025) at AMC, Flix, Point, Palace.
Horror film starring real-life power couple Alison Bree and Dave Franco. After early access screening last week, this officially opens June 30. But if you’re very eager, you will find some screenings on June 29.
TRANSFORMERS ONE (2024) at Flix.
UNDER THE SEA 3D at AMC.
IMAX educational film.
WILD ROBOT, THE (2025) at Point, Palace.
Looking Ahead:
Rooftop Cinema, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
SUGARCANE 8/7
I-BE AREA 8/14
From Ryan Trecartin’s YouTube channel, WianTreetin (NSFW, language)
MILWAUKEE EXPERIMENTAL FILMS 8/21