Two outliers of society – one a coddled superstar android, the other a forgotten farmland scarecrow, find each other at a music festival, a place as ever representative of the hedonistic and compassionate extremes of human behavior.

Within the tragic constraints of impending death, our organic and mechanical protagonists carve a niche into the world they find themselves in, and inside that niche discover a connection, birthed in the maelstrom of social exclusion – a sentiment I very much identify with.

With exceptional and seamless CGI, graceful cinematography, combined with Nils Frahm’s heart-rending composition ‘Says‘, this production is a beautiful and powerful offering by director Kibwe Tavares.

Directed by Kibwe Tavares

Released: 2017

ProductionL Factory Fiften

Abiogenesis

August 26, 2014

Animation, Science Fiction

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It’s not often you get to see CGI modelling of this quality done with such a strong conceptual element. In this piece by talented director and artist Robert Mans, we observe an alternate kind of invasion that places us in a day-in-the-life of a highly-efficient life-seeding robotic organism. The use of imagery in the film of insect-like wings, mandibles and thorns is extremely effective, at times feeling like the trippy sci-fi of The Fountain and other moments smacking of a scary DARPA demonstration video. I wish more mainstream sci-fi films were this inventive and thought-provoking.

Directed by: Robert Mans (link)

Released: 2014

A Truncated Story Of Infinity

July 29, 2014

Science Fiction

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Routine, restarts, repetition, ritual. Important or fatuous? Left or right? Two steps forward or trip and fall? Extreme or moderation?

“He was not alone in being alone.”

This film finds success in its ability to have the viewer tangled in the infinite potential variables (albeit separated by time) revealed in the experiences of ‘the subject’, but also, in the quiet moments, have them question the variables in the landscape of their own life. Deeply philosophical, scientific and almost religious, we follow the dulcet, calm tones of the narrator as he leads us into the reflections of the reflections, the variables within the variables, an exploration of everyday moments as much as a dizzying lurch over a bottomless chasm.

Directed by Paul Trillo (link)

Released: 2013

The Awareness

January 14, 2014

Science Fiction

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Captivating simple sci-fi pic, which although utilizes the lady-computer voice we’re so used to, amongst similar hallmarks of the A.I. story-type, is however an unexpected thrill and worth the slow start.

Directed by: Henry Dunham

Released: 2013

Spacebound

April 22, 2013

Animation, Science Fiction

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This isn’t terribly well animated, but it is well paced and is a delightful contrast to the usual ‘you don’t know how much time you have, so make the most of it.’. It says ‘you do know much time you have left; not much. So make the most of it.’ Makes me ache.