Identiteaze

From the brilliant mind of revolutionary artist Jessie Earl, Identiteaze is a stunning and captivating sci-fi short film. Set in a virtual reality limbo in a dystopic corporate controlled future, the film centers around two strangers with missing memories faced with an impossible decision and an unknown fate. An astounding cast, amazing writing and direction, and beautiful visuals highlight this exploration of identity, conformity, our place in the world, and what we owe to each other. Lovingly made by true fans of science fiction, the film features numerous nods to iconic works that aren't necessary for your enjoyment but that enhance the experience greatly if you are. The allegorical exploration of queer identities is heart wrenchingly potent, and relatable to anyone who's ever struggled to know who they are or what their place in the world should be. I cannot recommend this film enough. It is fully worth a membership to Nebula for this film alone!

This short film reminded me of the TV show Severance, but where Severance provided enough information to generate specific questions about the core mysteries of the story, Identiteaze gave too few clues to spark an investment in the story. The visuals were good and the actors did well with what they were given. Much of the dialogue was repetitive or frustratingly vague, including a convoluted series of musical metaphors. I appreciate that this is a sincere effort from a cast and crew comprised of people often underrepresented in media, and I generally enjoy science fiction that explores elements of the human experience, including gender. The execution just didn't work for me.

No spoilers here.

As I mentioned in the title, I was hoping for and expecting more. I am familiar with the writer and a few of the actors, and I generally enjoy things that they produce. This is not the case here, as the writing feels very stilted and heavy on clichés, and the actors generally do a good job with the material that they are given to work with.

You would likely be better served watching something else, like Cube, and supporting LGBTQ+ stories elsewhere. The themes and ideas of the short are good ones but feel to be applied very poorly. Questions of identity in identiteaze is almost as comically simplistic as a bad episode of Star Trek.

There are a couple of moments in this short film that I found to be pretty funny, or clever, but overall I think even at its best, Identiteaze is just okay. And unfortunately, for most of its runtime, it feels pretty bland, and lacking in anything to really engage the viewer; with the central characters (character?) being rather ill defined, and seeming to have different personalities each line in order to facilitate the dialogue, and the plot being mostly pretty standard sci-fi tropes, and hinting at some greater scope without really telling, I feel, a satisfying story by the end of its 40 minutes. The actors did fine (although I found something a little off about Abigail Thorn's performance, tbh), and the effects were mostly decent for the kind of budget I'm assuming this had.

I am definitely interested to see what more nebula artists make with this kind of backing.

As a trans woman i really enjoyed it and hope this gets picked up as a series. Everyone needs to support this and get it made into a series. Like it delves into identity and how we cant be told where we fit and I love Jessie gender for making this. I also Love John de lancie! He did the Q snap thing from star trek lol. My friend saw it too and loved it as well. I wish this project luck in getting more episodes made. This needs to become successful. Trans themed shows are something we need more of,m especially made by trans people. Trans rights are human rights and i hope to learn more about the story here and get to see so much more. I have so many questions!