This short film was recently picked up by a studio to develop into a full feature, and it was this that brought it to my attention. As someone who watches a few short films here and there, the words "proof-of-concept" don't tend to thrill me greatly because often it means that a filmmaker has poured their resources into a short effects sequence, with some ill-defined ideas around it, all in an attempt to get the attention of someone who has more money to do it bigger and better. With Controller, it is hard not to see this as being one such short film, because there is a lot of background and foreground which appears to offer ideas and narrative, but generally is pretty superficial.
There is generally much more that we do not know than we do, and within this frame what we get is an office-based fight sequence, some cool design ideas, and a plot somewhere far in the background which suggests a real heart and base, but yet remains far away from the short. The foreground does work well though, and the feeling of something bigger just about does enough to carry it through. The style and design looks better than the resources available probably made easy; in some ways the limits of the short are clear but the ambition of it is there. The performances from Kent Chu and Susan Hsu are mostly about the voicework they provide, but in this way it is delicate and supports the idea of there being more behind what little we are seeing.
So, as a short film it is limited because of how little it is able to deliver. There was still enough to engage me and make me interested enough to see what could be done with this frame with more time and money – although the short never lets me forget that it has the goal to do this for studios first and me second.
