From the Future with Love

Just prior to the 22nd Century, the police are private, like auto insurance and cable TV. You only get help according to your coverage. If you have none, you are toast. The police work for different companies and offer different perks. They are also self centered and mega-arrogant in their dealings with everyday citizens. This is well-crafted but could use a bit more meat.

New York in the future and the police force has been privatized; cops from different companies patrol the areas where they are paid to cover and for individuals the first response is to check coverage before taking any action. We join three cops at the start of their day; one which will see them facing mind hackers and rival police forces.

Very often with short film you get the feeling that you are watching a pitch being made rather than a film being made for you the viewer. This is the case with this short as the whole thing feels like a demo reel for a feature – and it does this from the ideas up to the effects and general design: the message is simple "think what we could do with more". In terms of doing that, the film succeeds and while it mostly falls down as a total short film for the viewer, it does have enough in it that it will still work for the casual viewer, albeit that it will still work as a pitch.

The plot is delivered in snapshots from the day so technically there is a narrative flow there but it is fragmented and more about showing us bits of the story. This does still work and it is engaging to see the various ideas and concepts, although I didn't like that at some points the characters acted like it was all new to them too – because this made the exposition easier (good example is the cop refusing to help the waitress as she was not covered, in this world that should be the norm, not something for discussion or shock). Outside of this the design is really nice, from the costumes and general ideas (hacking etc) there is something here I would watch. The sense of satire needs more work in the writing and presentation – it is in there but I didn't think the short brought it out in the way that it wanted (I think it was trying to be Robocop style humor).

It is a commendable effort and as a pitch it worked because I wanted to see the story told properly and immediately checked to see if there was anything online about the short getting production offers; this shows that it achieved its aim as a pitch, just a shame it couldn't do that and be more satisfying as a self-contained short film at the same time.

2095 and the American police force have been privatised meaning law enforcement and the people the law protects comes down to one thing - money and how much insurance citizens have taken out against it . Maybe you've seen this type of thing before ? I know I have in a great film from 1987 which has been remade and released to very mediocre reviews and box office . Obviously the critics and audience didn't want to " buy that for a dollar " ? . We're not talking about an original idea but this short film does what it sets out to do fairly well though

I should write a bit more in order to qualify this Since it's set in 2095 director K Michel Parandi resists the temptation to second guess what the future will look like and the end of the 21st Century looks exactly like it does at the start of the century so this means we're able to buy in to this world right from the outset . It lends great credibility . The problem is the director throws a slight spanner in to the works by having this police uniforms look like exactly like a cross between STAR WARS stormtroopers and the cyborg from ROBOCOP . In short this uniform just doesn't seem practical for task . There's also a slight problem with the main story of computer hackers doesn't seem as well developed as it might have been and I had to concentrate harder than perhaps I should have had in order to follow this plot thread . There's also a strong element " please give us a budget to make a feature length movie " and the short ends with a " To Be Continued .... " caption . Regardless of this it probably is more self contained than a few other short films I've seen recently and I certainly wouldn't mind this going to feature length since in cheek satire and concepts involved are very intriguing

I made an account just because of this movie. I want more! I loved the idea behind it and need to find out more. Just watch it, its like 10-12 minutes.