Unedited Footage of a Bear

"Horrifyingly abstract" completely describes the entire short. It's approximately 10 minutes long with a bear! Roll credits! No, I'm joking of course. This is adult swim, you wouldn't expect real footage of a bear in a short titled as such. No, it's about 30 seconds of unedited footage of a bear! Then it cuts to an infomercial. This infomercial goes on for a minute, and then follows Donna, who is a likely anxiety-filled, schizophrenic woman. She drives with a horrified look, checking around her, and the next 6 or 7 minutes follow pure dread. She stops, finds a strange clone, and is assaulted by said clone with no dialogue stated. I won't spoil this masterpiece, stop reading this and start watching this!

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.

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.

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.

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.