Future Not Bright
2064
In the future, a data limit is reached causing the internet to spill out into the real world. Luke Strickler directs and animates “2064,” an absurdist art video using stock 3D models of common American products and brands to paint a ridiculous future. A giant floating Mario becomes the Earth’s new moon. Movie theaters attempt to save themselves by reopening Jim Carrey’s “The Mask” year round. Every country is allotted one airplane for all citizens to travel on, a plane with no windows or bathrooms. Strickler’s film delivers strange, unsettling beauty in its vision of an incoherent future.
TALK ABOUT YOUR DREAMS
A lonely virtual reality actor parties with a woman sent to kill her. “Talk About Your Dreams,” directed by Robbie Barnett, is psychedelic sci-fi set in the near (?) future where hallucinogenic drugs replace anxiety with feelings of well-being. Kate Lyn Sheil plays the woman, a popular VR actor specializing in comfort porn. She’s at odds with the world (“disconnect is a popular lifestyle choice these days”), and with her fans. A strange and singular vision composed of wonderfully expressive, neon visuals (sometimes holographic) and great performances from the always intriguing Sheil and Sophie Traub.
TENNESSEE
A young woman explores a dating app in the future. “Tennessee,” by Jack Wedge is a startlingly original animation about a lonely girl in a lonely world. Its flashy, sensory overload style somehow feels exactly like the future, depicting surreal fragmentation at every level of the human experience. Layering together a terrifyingly dense visual landscape and stripping away all sense of the real or organic, the film is a brilliant satire of a technologically obsessed future, which happens to look a lot like now.
TURN ON
Trapped inside her decrepit city and home, Mona leaves for a mysterious party. “Turn On,” directed by Celine Layous and Quinn Else, is an atmospheric tone-poem on the subject of family bonds and connection to a place, while longing for escape. Lifted by rich visuals / vivid color schemes (Layous also serves as the D.P.), and inspired by Layous’ native Beirut, Lebanon, the film delivers evocative texture with smoke-filled rooms and trash-filled alleys, accumulating resonance in moments of fleeting joy within unhealthy environments and habits.
FIVE MINUTES BEFORE THE END OF THE WORLD
Set in a near future which may or may not be experiencing the end of the world, a group of young people gather around a trendy Swedish coffee shop. “Five Minutes Before the End of the World,” is a roaming portrait, directed by Kevin Luna, unsettling in its depiction of the laissez faire attitude of its characters going about their daily lives as ominous sirens and jet planes blare above. The portrayal of near future shows subtle changes — everyone wears AR glasses; cars drive themselves — but it’s not really a dystopian prediction, as much as it is a satire on the modern world with slightly tweaked settings. And the foreboding remains open for interpretation. Is it the end of the world, or does it just feel like it? Perhaps we’re focused on a class of people sheltered from the more immediate problems of those in vulnerable life positions. Or perhaps it’s coming for us all, and we just can’t hear the signs.
GAS GETS IN YOUR EYES
Henry loses his vision after being exposed to an unknown toxic gas. “Gas Gets In Your Eyes,” by director Madeline Leshner, is an imaginative experimental drama full of startling images and unsettling developments. The grim prognosis is delivered by an ominous robotic voice, and, before Henry can come to terms with his loss, the skies darken, and a mighty rainstorm envelopes the land. Leshner claims a unique voice, at times almost comic, with her exploration of a dystopian scenario delivered as an immersive sensory experience.
AQUACULTURE
The employees of a cult-like biotech start-up test their product on themselves. “Aquaculture”, written and directed by Artemis Shaw, is a (slightly) sci-fi satire about the grandiose vision of a quietly eccentric entrepreneur; freely mixing absurdity and sincerity, it’s a strangely engrossing film filled with mystery and restraint. Punctuated by bursts of old-time songs and ominous giant rolling balls, Shaw’s film is a delightfully off-kilter glimpse at the inner workings of a highly questionable new idea.
MIDWIFE
In a future where women are dying rapidly, a female psychologist counsels and interrogates orphaned children to find answers. A stunningly achieved dystopian tale directed by Blake Salzman, “Midwife” is notable for its melding of genre and art-house sensibilities, and a powerful lead performance by Jules Willcox that navigates unflinching despair with a flicker of hope. Covered in bold strokes of style and atmosphere (one particularly astounding sequence half way through navigates with as much grim flourish as you’ll ever see), the film introduces Salzman as a promising young director with a audacious vision.
ONE SHOT
An influencer prepares for a performance. Jane Inyang directs “One Shot,” a stylish experimental piece where a woman makes herself up for a ’show’ and then performs the ‘show.’ Self-described as a dystopian satire, the film reflects a somewhat troubling obsession of our modern times, and with its ultra simple set-up and elegant execution, reminds of Inyang’s previous film, “Australian Sweetheart,” another avant-garde portrait of a woman and her surroundings.
THE NURTURING
When Rebecca starts believing she can change the world with an old video game controller, it creates a rift with her boyfriend, Octavio. Esteban Pedraza directs “The Nurturing,” a heady parable on empathy and belief, rich in ideas and atmosphere. After the death of her father, Rebecca retreats into ‘the nurturing,’ an all-consuming mode which finds her perched by the window watching her neighbor through a camcorder. If she’s able to understand the stranger’s life deeply enough, if she can feel at one with his daily movements, she’ll build up enough empathy to be “granted control.” Pedraza’s film raises a profound set of existential questions about grief, the search for harmony (personal and societal), and what it takes for two people with differing beliefs to come together.