Unedited Footage of a Bear

Is this a commentary? Just one big joke? An exercise in Dadaist absurdity? Is there some hidden meaning that multiple viewings and finely tuned analyses will uncover?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and without clear expression otherwise, so is intent. But this much is certain: Even for a format where creators frequently challenge all convention of narrative storytelling and cinematic artistry, this short is an oddity.

Not knowing anything of 'Unedited footage of a bear' ahead of time, I was quite prepared to watch, well, 10 minutes of unedited footage of a bear. Imagine my surprise.

The plot, such as it is - conveyed with a singular tiny thread consistently running throughout the length - certainly keeps our attention. It's riveting, even if the exact course of events is a little unclear. The short is very well made, and I get a sense that whatever the filmmakers' concept was, they held the notion very clearly in their minds and approached the production with unwavering resolve. Not one shot, moment, or scene seems out of place, ill-considered, or given less than 100% of all involved: If I had to guess, the final cut completely matches the original idea, beat for beat. True, this may be partly because of the dark, absolutely whimsical nature that prevents us from genuinely guessing at the writers' vision - but bizarrerie in and of itself, no matter how incomprehensible, doesn't preclude quality of craftmanship, nor one's ability to appreciate it.

Is this review making sense? Should it, under the circumstances? Let they who have understanding transcribe a few words on a peculiar film shrouded in the mystery of an innocuous title without spoiling it, and without also adopting the very eccentricity they hope to evaluate.

Fun, ridiculous, wild, well-made, offbeat. I can't imagine 'Unedited footage of a bear' has a particularly large audience, but for those who dare to give this a try: Welcome.

This left me with such an uneasy feeling, it's very disturbing and really gives you that wtf feeling. The sudden shift in visuals and theme is so drastic that it leaves you with this stomach turning feeling. Its so effective and I enjoyed that a lot. The acting of our main character is great and convincing. The video is short but sweet and really traumatized a lot of kids in youtube back in the day. The video still holds up till this day and gives me nightmares. I should also mention the arg with the website. It is as equally disturbing and made me feel ill while exploring. Yet another fantastic horror posted on adult swim.

If this is what we can expect from Alan Resnick in the future, then I want more. With a relatively small budget, he's made a genuinely impressive short. (I'm aware there's a website tie-in to this, but I didn't look into it, so I won't comment on it other than saying it exists.) First of all, this short is greatly helped by the way it was broadcast. Seeing this at 3 a.m. Is definitely (probably) the best way to experience this. Sadly, I didn't. What makes me say this in the first place is the weird, lucid dream feel that Resnick creates. This lends to a lot of comedy and horror, and it's balanced better than in a lot of mainstream horror-comedy efforts. Certain shots are burned into my memory, not because they're "terrifying," but because they're so unique. There were plenty of points throughout the short that I just thought to myself, "This is awesome." If Resnick had a budget for a feature, I really hope he'd be able to do something that's up to this quality. So to all producers out there: PLEASE give this man more money, he is a treasure.

Footage of a grizzly bear, unedited, with a whispered amateur commentary underneath; only a short commercial for Claridryl™ breaks this short film up.

As the title suggests, this film opens with footage of a bear without any edits. This gives way to a commercial which has a "skip" button in the bottom right that will not work; a young mother with two children sings the praises of the wonderdrug Claridryl™ as it helps her cope with the pressures of the demands on her. As the commercial ends, we continue to stay with the woman as she drives home – a drive that becomes odd to say the least. I will not say too much about the specifics of the short film, because one of the good things about it is that it does get oppressively odd and it helps it work if you do not know even where it is going. It isn't that it has a narrative so much as I just enjoyed how it sneaks up on you.

The film's change is very well done. The commercial aspect is totally convincing in its bright colors, cheesy acting, and on- screen text. This settles down a little in terms of color and tone, and at the same time the commercial voice fades onto the car radio in a way that I really enjoyed as a segue from one to the other. Even more impressive though is how well the lead actress Donelli also does this with her face, gradually going from the big smile and insincere joy, down to something more real, then further down from there. Her performance makes a lot of the film work as well as it does – well, both of "hers" since the role is played by twin sisters. Both are excellent in all scenes and convince no matter what emotion or state they are playing. This sense of realism in their performance is what makes the film genuinely unsettling and chilling.

That it sneaks up on the viewer is also what hits hard; the oddity, the sense of weirdness, then suddenly something terrible and relentless. The second half of the film is a little weaker than the first but it still works very well as it piles into the world it has made. It worked very well on me, watching it on a small screen with the sun outside the window – Lord knows what it must have done to people who actually watched it at the original 4am broadcast.

I mean seriously, this is "Unedited Footage of a Bear", so do we really have to talk about it? I could say a lot of great things about this movie, like how it is unedited, for example. Also one can and should not ignore the fact that this film is real footage. And of course, lastly, it is a movie about a bear; what's not to love? First off, they are brown (mostly) and also they are wild animals. It's really cool to see one (bear) out in the wild, just going about its day. Viewers immediately ask: will the bear be like me some how? Answer: no (it's a bear, duh) but also, bears are cool on their own, they don't need to be like us. In conclusion, watch this piece of cinematic history and enjoy the fact that you're not a bear, because you're "human" or don't, because bears are awesome.