Cyberpunk

This documentary is one of the rare TV appearances of William Gibson. as such, we had to endure it in one of our courses.

Unfortunately, the documentary makers appear to have all the maturity of five year olds, and especially the editor deserves criticism. The entire documentary is dominated by psychedelic colours, strange menu systems around the picture, weird displays in the middle of the picture, all aimed a creating an ambience of cyberspace. The result is suffering, tiring of the eyes and distraction. In one interview, they decided to split the screen into 16 equal parts, have a half second of the interview played in one segment, then freeze the picture there, and continue in another random segment (while all other segments are frozen). Basically, they appeared to have gotten all excited about what they could do, producing a documentary that any film student would be a shamed of.

The contents gets lost in these stylistic mistakes. Not that there is much of it - the core is a set of interviews with two writers. All the rest is showing punks, or letting hackers brag about being "as powerful as the state department in the USA".

Avoid at all cost.

Certainly dated but contains many prophetic predictions about the internet and how vulnerable we become the more computerized we get. Also interesting to see interviews William Gibson , Timothy Leary and the inclusion of industrial music scene.

I liked the documentary, cause it features a lot of people that were dubbed "crazy" by the "normal society". Computer Hackers, techno musicians (Front 242), computer artists (with some, yet, very zany or cheesy looking animations :D) and many more.

William Gibson talks a lot about the background of his books, Dr. Timothy Leary gets screen time and talks about the "Internet Revolution" - very provident for a man of his age.

Overalll a very strange, sometimes weird, documentary with a semi-scientific touch. Amusing and very disturbing because of a subtle picture distortion that overlaps complete passages. It predicts parts of the "Matrix"-story and focuses on drugs and electronic subculture.

While looking dated now, this film provides an interesting insight into the cyberpunk movement of the 80's. The interviews are interesting, if a little one sided and in some cases they are inaccurate, and the boasts in some are quite outrageous. Features William Gibson, Timothy Leary and others.

If you are interested in the works of William Gibson or Neil Stephenson, then you'll enjoy this documentary. I particularly enjoy the use of music and some of the video clips shown. If you are looking for factual information you will need to research further. This film serves more as a 'time capsule' of computer technology and visions for the future.