Electroma

I saw Daft Punk's Electroma late last night at the Stockholm Filmfestival. This was right after seeing Gondry's "The Science of Sleep" which was brilliant! This evening turned out to be a great french evening.. Even though I have always been a big fan of Daft Punk's music, especially their live performances, I didn't really think that I would enjoy Electroma that much, but I was wrong! I was really touched by this story of two Robots (the members in daft punk) trying to become human. The theme is similar to that of their latest album "Human After All". It reminded me of Kubrick/Spielberg's "A.I", but Electroma is much more symbolical and humans play a less important role. The movie depicts the robots desire to be unique and human, and just like "Stalker" and other Tarkovsky movies the scenes are very long and for the most part there is no music just background noise, this made me really get into the movie. The whole movie is fantastic but the high rating is mostly due to the ending which is crazy good! I don't know if Daft Punk's robot-era is over after this movie, but I'm looking forward to seeing more stuff from them.

This is probably a movie that many people might find boring because it is a very silent and slow movie (heard a guy in front of me snoring..) but give it a chance... The french are not as stupid as the look!

oh and the music is not daft punk, but I heard some Brian Eno and Curtis Mayfield, overall the music choices were excellent! Merci;)

It doesn't bother me in the slightest whether people think this film references others or not. That's irrelevant because it just works - it's delightfully simple, beautifully shot, visually arresting and surprisingly poetic.

Part of the charm of this film is both the fun (the makeover) and then the quite moving climax in the desert. It works against all your expectations of Daft Punk (and their music) and in many ways this is what makes this also quite special. The choice of music is sublime, and the pace itself becomes quite hypnotic. In fact the pace seems to be one thing that people use to critique this film as though it's somehow pretentious..which itself is an absurd and dimwitted comment really, because the playful charm of the silent characters themselves is anything but pretentious. Hell, if that's pretentious, the world needs a lot more of it because we are drowning in the bile spewing from the Hollywood trough.

As an older Daft Punk fan, probably more in tune with their own age and tastes i loved this film. Also worth a mention that there's a very Kubrick-esquire 2001 look to one scene (thumbs up there!)

Ignore the doubters. Sit back and immerse yourself in Electroma. In time this will definitely considered a classic concept film by one of the more innovative electronic artists of our age.

Human After All

It's hard to pin point precisely what makes this film so relevant in this time. It could be the fact that our society is so instantly nostalgic that we've forgotten what nostalgia truly means, or that we've lost hope for what an art film can and cannot be. Either way this film has captured the essence of life in somewhat of an overdrawn extended metaphor that rings in your ears like a time bomb that desperately needed to be set off. It remains as no surprise to me, having recently rediscovered Daft Punk's music, that such a collaboration of sound and image can truly transcend above all boundary, and re ignite an artist's passion for the cinema. Funny enough it should take a duo of french electronic musicians to do so. The film's beauty lies in it's simplicity of story and it's complexity of motivation. The film's brilliance lies in it's gorgeous cinematography complimented by a haunting and all too perfect score. If you are looking for a film that will stimulate you on a level that will challenge and inspire you to fully comprehend, then this is a film for you. But be warned...the story is one that could have been told in 20 minutes, told over a period of an hour and 20 minutes. If you cannot take art seriously and become easily angered or frustrated when a film doesn't spoon feed you the plot, then stay away! It has been said that this film compares to Gus Van Sant's Elephant, or possibly Vincent Gallo's Brown Bunny, mostly for the long continuous takes scattered throughout the film. The difference here is that these shot are motivated whereas in Elephant, Gus Van Sant forgot he was making a movie and fell asleep during his shoot. Some may disagree, but Gus Van Sant doesn't know his ass from his elbow and I defy him to make a film as meaningful and well executed as Electroma. The imagery is beautiful, the setting is spiritual, and the music is touching. Top notch film making from two guys who have a lot to say, but can do so without any words at all. Brilliant.

A bit pretentious, a bit obvious, overlong, even at 74 minutes (this would have been a brilliant 40 minute short), but still full of arresting images and surprisingly emotional moments.

Influenced heavily by Kubrick, Antonioni and most of the great 60s and 70s visualists, this is a wordless film about two robots who want to become human. The action is minimal. The opening drive through the desert alone takes a good 15 minutes.

But it's wonderfully shot, and the use of eclectic source music as score (Brian Eno, Curtis Mayfield, etc) is interesting, if sometimes a little too self-conscious or intrusive.

I doubt there are more layers to be found on repeated viewings, I think it is what it is: an experimental film more full of image than story or ideas. A 74 minute, interesting rock video.

But every time I'd head toward terminally bored, an image or feeling would reel me back in...

Electroma was probably the most screwed-up movie I've ever seen.

It was a brilliant movie though. The cinematography was just superb. I loved the slowness, it didn't bore me at all. I was able to enjoy the ambiance, the details, the minimalism, the originality. It really touched me and took me to another level.

But at the same time, this movie got me quite some philosophical nightmare. It made me feel, more than ever before, like we're just robots, and everything we do has been programmed. The determinism theory. Anyone else felt this? I mean, I felt really, really horrible.

But as I said, simply brilliant movie, for the pleasure and for the pain it caused me.