Puzzlehead

In a world 'after the decline' a scientist creates a robot in his image. The robot, named Puzzlehead, is getting smarter every day, and more independent, which at some point makes the scientist feel threatened by his creation. A strange love triangle brings the situation to a boiling point.

I very much liked this small scale and moody sci-fi picture. It's well acted, has an intelligent screenplay and lots of atmosphere. The writer-director never makes the mistake of trying to make his low budget film bigger than it it is, thus keeping it believable.

"Puzzlehead" is much like an extended "Twilight Zone" episode warning about man creating artificial life in his own flawed image.

It draws on myths from the doppelganger to the golem to Pygmalion and their psychological counterpart in "Fight Club," to sci fi from Asimov's Robot Rules to "Star Trek"'s "Data" character to darkly answering Philip Dick's question "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (the basis for "Blade Runner"). But this film makes battles about the Rise of the Machines more intensely personal than in "The Matrix" trilogy and even more intimate than in the new "Battlestar Galactica" series.

Several elements raise it up beyond other robot genre films - the look, sound and, to a lesser extent, the role of woman and procreation in this nihilistic future.

While filmed all in Brooklyn, the film looks like it is set in a violent, post-apocalyptic vaguely Eastern European dictatorship, both through the settings and the gritty and changing point-of-view cinematography and editing.

The sound design very effectively adds to the creepy mood. According to Q & A with the director and crew at the Tribeca Film Festival, problems with the original ambient sound necessitated a re-recording of the entire soundtrack, including the actors' voices. Capitalizing on the look, the actors' original voices were replaced by other voice-overs with added accents so that all the speaking has the slightly disconnected feel of dubbed over foreign films, adding to the uneasy theme of relations between man and machine.

The superior music selections, mostly heard Dogme style played in situ, add to the tense atmosphere, from the Yiddish folk song "Dona Dona" (its chorus here is eerily ironic, usually translated as "But whoever treasures freedom/Like the swallow has learned to fly."), to Bach and Scarlatti played on a harpsichord as if it's an automatic player piano.

A unique element to the Frankenstein aspects of the story is the viewer's shifting sympathies between the creator and robot, usually based on how each relates to the woman, even as toward the end we scarily lose track of which one is the human.

Writer/director James Bai, in the Q & A, cited Daniel Keyes' ironic story/novel "Flowers for Algernon" (the basis for the movie "Charly") as an influence, but I was struck more by the warning of human creators transmitting their intrinsically violent and emotional flaws.

This film deals with some of the same issues as "Artificial Intelligence," but is to that film as the recent version of "Time Machine" is to "Primer." It is being showcased by the Alfred Sloan Foundation as the latter film was, for creatively showing science in society.

"Puzzlehead" can definitely be marketed to adult fans of robot movies, sci fi and "The Twilight Zone," but I doubt it will appeal more widely.

In some future dystopia, Walter (Stephen Galaida) creates an android he calls PUZZLEHEAD. Fashioned in his own image, Walter instills his creation with his memories and psychological makeup.

All is well until Walter and his "twin" fall in love with the same woman, named Julia (Robbie Shapiro). Julia prefers one over the other, leading to betrayal and disaster.

PUZZLEHEAD is a well-made film about identity and what it means to be human. So, don't expect laser battles or explosions, just intriguing science fiction...

It's seldom nowadays that I find a movie that I feel connects with me intellectually. I guess I've just seen way too many movies! This was a breath of fresh air, let me tell you. At the end of this movie you won't feel like you've visited a 3$ wh***. This movie's story is complete in every way.

Despite all the above praise, I have to mention one thing that led to my average vote. Why no one has commented on this before me, I have absolutely no idea. The acting is atrocious; and there's just no way of getting around it. It's partly because of the mood the director wanted for his movie, but no one in this movie is even close to pulling it off. Even playing the robot, which in the beginning of its creation shouldn't require much skill, they completely miss the mark. In fact, if the story wasn't so genius, and the setting so beautifully laid out, not to mention some of the very artistic filming - I would probably have stopped watching the movie altogether.

Although Puzzlehead Is,by Its main subject matter,listed as Science Fiction, those who are aficionados of that genre will no doubt be disappointed. Puzzlehead Is one for the philosophers and deep-thinkers rather than fans of the neo-swashbucklers such as Star-wars, similarly the technical detail Is kept to a minimum as the focus Is on the relationship between Robot, creator, and the local shop-girl, who form the complicated "Menage-a-trois" which becomes the main subject of this unique and entertaining film. In the not-too-distant future, In an unspecified city In an unspecified country (not Important facts In a movie such as this),after some kind of(again unspecified)apocalypse, a greatly reduced population Is slowly regaining something resembling a stable society. In this dark and foreboding landscape we find Walter, who has spent several years designing and building Puzzlehead, a robot In his own Image, a facsimile of himself In both looks and - to a certain extent - with the same mindset. However, the difference In personalities begins to reveal Itself as Puzzleheads life-experiences begin to expand his mind and, In particular, when the local shop-girl comes Into their lives. How the relationship between these three characters develops Is the main subject and many Interesting questions are raised and explored. The negative comments about this film are very unfair and are, as previously mentioned, probably a result of disappointed sci-fi fans, which I suppose Is understandable to a certain extent. But this dark and disturbing drama ought to be Judged on Its own merits. No bad language, a couple of sex-scenes more Implied than visual, a little violence but no gore, all this means that thrill-seekers will be left feeling distinctly unsatisfied.....but for the thinkers and philosophers there Is a wealth of questions to ponder. It's one of those films which needs and Indeed deserves a second viewing to thoroughly get to grips with Its many aspects and Is one best enjoyed with curtains closed and phones switched off.