Zune Social: I was very hyped to see this film. Ever since I saw it available in an FYE a few years ago, I had been wondering what the movie was like. I mean, after all, it features Daft Punk and is called "Electroma". Let me tell you, friends, if you were expecting something that's along the lines of "Blade Runner", "I, Robot" or even "Short Circuit", you're in for a rude awakening when you watch "Electroma".
Now the film is a true exercise in patience. Many portions of this movie stretch out for what seems like forever. Like, for example, one of the opening sequences of the film has the two main characters: Hero Robot #1 and Hero Robot #2 (the members of Daft Punk) driving along a stretch of highway. For what seems like an eternity you're watching these two men, er bots, driving along a road together only moving to occasionally shift gears or shift in their seats -- yeap, that's it. There's another segment of the movie where they walk along the desert. Again, you're asked to sit and just watch them trek across the sand. Can a person go mad wanting something to happen? Yes. In our ADD society, people will (and have, from what I understand) walk out on this film for lack of action.
But let me say this, too. The cinematography and use of scenery in this film is stunning. Part of your time while watching these extended sequences could be to take in the atmosphere around them. You could just get lost in the picture and escape from the world around you. I don't know who amongst us hasn't at least once just pictured ourselves driving along a highway with no real destination, but knowing that the ride is just as satisfying as finally reaching where you were headed.
Now to the story. Um, yeah. Essentially, two robots are going to find out what it's like to be human. They travel to a lab where their faces are caked with layers of goop. The resulting faces are quite hilarious to see (I don't know of many humans that look like what these two ended up looking like). However, when they emerge from the lab (and by the way, the society that they live in consist of people of varying ages and sizes who all don the Daft Punk style helmets) the people in this society look upon them with wonder and amazement. Since there's absolutely no dialogue in this movie, you're left to wonder what could be going through these people's minds. Could it be prejudicial? Could it be acceptance? I won't tell the rest of the story (I'll leave that up to you and your patience to discover).
At first, because I consider myself a card-carrying member of the ADD society, I was almost ready to hit the off button on the DVD player (aka my XBOX 360). Yet, I decided to give this film a chance -- after all, I did purchase it sight-unseen from FYE (haha). Eventually, the more I got into the story the more I started to enjoy it. Having it without dialogue for example and allowing me to fill in those gaps made for a story that I could tailor to my own imagination.
So, in *my* mind's eye, this became a story about two robots who lived in a society where everyone was essentially the same. These robots, therefore wanted to change their appearance and see what it was like to be truly different. Of course, they end up finding out it might not be all it's cracked up to be. So there really isn't a way to spoil this movie, since you're allowed to make your own true interpretations of it.
The music in the film isn't by Daft Punk. It's more orchestral stuff done by other composers. However, the music was excellently done and matched the on-screen stuff quite well. The music featured long sweeping sections that went along with the long sweeping scenes that were everywhere in this film.
If I had to have one awe-inspiring scene, it had to be the sequence in which the robots were being changed into humans. They were in this room being tendered to by attendants in all-white. I'm not talking about all-white like just in clothes. I'm talking like all-white that if they stood against the white portions of the screen they totally disappear. Think reverse shadows. Watching these beings at work on the screen was pretty trippy. I guess since I saw this film for the first time on 4/20 it should only make sense that I feel like I'm on acid watching it.
Then there's the final sequence. While I won't spoil that sequence, let me just say that whoever was the stuntman for that must've gotten paid some serious extra cash and had his medical all paid up. I'm still in awe as to not only what the final sequence entailed, but for how long the camera focused on it before fading out.
Overall, "Daft Punk's Electroma" will test your patience to sit and wait. It's a total of 74 minutes that will feel like an eternity unless you exercise your imagination and fill in all of the necessary gaps. The key, I feel, is that you need to tailor this film to you. Create your own dialogue, write your own backstory, develop your own stream around it.
Do I feel like I made a bad purchase? Not in the least. In fact, I compare this to owning BT's "This Binary Universe" which is another piece (that I also own, that comes with an accompanying music CD) that will test a person's patience, but when you look at the total picture, you'll find that there's much more beneath the surface to be found.
This film is quite hard to find as you won't find it in local music shops. I found mine, online, through FYE, but you can also find the film available at Amazon. The film used to be available through Netflix, although that has been removed as an option. I'm kind of hoping they reinstate it at least as a DVD shipment.
Overall a good film. Long... but good.
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