05-24-2010, 11:22 PM | #1 (permalink) |
The Reforms
Location: Rarely, if ever, here or there, but always in transition
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Artist Feature: "I'm Here". A short film by Spike Jonze.
I'm Here Written & Directed by Spike Jonze Produced by Vincent Landay Production Company (commission) : ABSOLUT Vodka Music composed by Sam Spiegel - with additional score by Brent Nichols, of Squeak E. Clean Productions Animation and Visual Effects provided by Method Studios Released on January 21, 2010 (Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival) Distributed by D&E Entertainment The above is but the trailer; to watch the film in its entirety, head over to the OFFICIAL SITE, and grab a "cyber-ticket to admittance", as currently, this is the only way to watch the short film in full. The film is a love story about two robots living in a Los Angeles where humans and robots coexist. The plot is based on The Giving Tree, and the man/bot character is named after Shel Silverstein. "I'm Here" is a robot love story celebrating a life enriched by creativity. The movie is set in contemporary L.A., where life moves at a seemingly regular pace, with the exception of a certain amount of robot residents who live among the population. A male robot librarian lives a solitary and methodical life — devoid of creativity, joy and passion - until he meets an adventurous and free spirited female robot. The film stars British actor Andrew Garfield and Sienna Guillory as the two protagonists. [cinematical.] + [/Film.] - - - personal commentary: I've heard nothing but positive buzz about this film since it premiered 4 months ago at Sundance, and then again, approximately 2 months ago, when the buzz intensified triplefold, and was felt near everywhere (film industry in-scope-wise), when ABSOLUT decided to allow this film to go "live". Similar to another short film venture I posted previously, (SIGNS) this film was both commissioned, and produced (distributed) by the ABSOLUT Vodka brand. This means that, although the director (Spike Jonze) has near unlimited free-reign to allow his own idea of a narrative to form, the marketing brand does prefer to at least be mentioned, if only casually, in the final cut. While this may sound as though this could be a half-hour commercial for booze, I'll state it simply here; it's not. Technically, although that may be right, the story here goes much deeper than what an occasional "product-placement" glimpse in the film would lead you to believe, and while I'd rather not heap undue praise on it as of yet, (as I, myself, have not watched the entire thing, either) I'll allow you folks to decide if this film was an experience worth trying.
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As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves. —Mohandas K. Gandhi Last edited by Jetée; 06-06-2010 at 11:22 PM.. |
05-25-2010, 09:05 AM | #2 (permalink) |
More Than You Expect
Location: Queens
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What a sweet and brilliant little thing of a movie. I tried to watch it a few months ago after reading a short article Vice wrote about it but I guess the site was too bogged down as I couldn't get it to load. Thanks for this, Jetée.
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"Porn is a zoo of exotic animals that becomes boring upon ownership." -Nersesian |
06-06-2010, 11:06 PM | #3 (permalink) |
The Reforms
Location: Rarely, if ever, here or there, but always in transition
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I finally got around to finishing this film (much like my foray into re-reading and finishing Melville's Moby Dick, watching this short film was a process of short snippet watches spread interspersed over the past three months), and whilst it took me a long while, I did thoroughly enjoy it. I wasn't too keen on the musical score at first, but after re-watching a few scenes more times than I can recall trying to catch up, I think it added a great deal of body to the product. I also didn't see why "replacement parts" couldn't have been fetched, but I don't really know the working salary of a robot librarian to knon why this wasn't a feasible end-solution.
And dissimilar to the other product-commissioned short film I've seen before, in this film, I don't remember seeing any overt, or even subvert, "product placement" scenes. Must have happened during the party, but even then, I still didn't catch one glimpse of it (and I watched that scene a few times too many) ; must have to do with it not making any sense of why there would be any drinking at a small shindig mostly-being-attended by automatons. Anybody else watch and enjoy the film?
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As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves. —Mohandas K. Gandhi |
06-25-2010, 09:01 PM | #4 (permalink) |
The Reforms
Location: Rarely, if ever, here or there, but always in transition
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It gets to be a bit more than surreal, then realizing, you are the protagonist
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As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves. —Mohandas K. Gandhi |
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