"HEAD" TURNS 50

This month marks the 50th anniversary of Head, one of the most bizarre and wonderful American films to come out of the 1960's. Featuring The Monkees in a wild departure from their popular TV series, Head breaks free of cinematic conventions in spectacular ways. The storyline is circular and the actors shatter the fourth wall so often and so dramatically that viewers have no choice but to give in the experience rather than try to make sense of it all.

Directed by Bob Rafelson (Five Easy Pieces) and co-written by Rafelson and Jack Nicholson, Head challenges viewers' ideas about reality. This is why it holds a special place in my heart. Creative inspiration requires an element of "lucid waking," which is the ability to realize that our waking reality is as illusory as the dreams we experience when we sleep at night. Inspired art draws our attention to the dreamlike nature of waking reality by blurring the lines between "real" and "imagined." In this sense, Head qualifies as inspired art. I am not alone in this view. Filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Edgar Wright rank it among their all-time favorite movies.

But don't take our word for it! You can watch Head right here: