September 2, 2007

Glenn reviews Electroma using images from the film

Well, I wouldn't exactly call it a "review" of Daft Punk's psuedo-silent (there are only songs, usually instrumentals, on the soundtrack) experimental (there isn't much going on at all) film Electroma so much as acknowledging how ridiculously absurd the movie is and proving it by showing you 40 (yes, FORTY!, I suffer for my work) pictures and writing commentary underneath that is neither enlightening or witty. Enjoy?

Er, there are spoilers in here so if you have any legitimate desire to see this (if you even can, it's a mere miracle that it's even available on DVD in Australia) perhaps you may not actually wish to view this entry. But, let's face it, Electroma's appeal isn't it's hard-hitting twist-laden plot, is it?


It opens with a car. It's very pretty.


Then the same car but from a different angle. Amazing.


It has a nice title card, which also features the first David Lynch reference (Lynch loves closeups of fire, and these appear throughout Electroma)


Inside the car. Thrilling, right?


Still inside the car but with a new view out the front window. It repeats this theme for several minutes so we'll skip ahead, shall me?


Exterior shots again. This is pretty much the entire opening passage of the movie. A road trip movie for the whole family... not quite. Where's Abigail Breslin?


More Lynchisms - close ups of road lane strips even though cars don't actually drive over the stripes.


This scene features Todd Gundren's "International Feel". The use of that song is as amazing as you can probably imagine it being. I think I saw Steve Carell hiding in the backseat.


Lynchism #3 - Man driving down the highway on a tractor. Except I'm pretty sure even David Lynch didn't dress old Richard Farnsworth in a Daft Punk robot helmet. OR DID HE?!? No. I'm pretty certain he didn't. Shame, really.


There's suspence! See, Daft Punk Robot #2 (#1 is the one that doesn't look like Gort from The Day The Earth Stood Still mated with an ATM) is looking out the window and looking back at him is...


...someone reading a newspaper! It's like The Hand That Rocks The Cradle it's so suspenceful!


I like to think that pregnent Daft Punk Robots give birth to a robot helmet and then a body with legs and arms just sprouts from it.


Weddings bring a tear to my eye, but those bridesrobot dresses are hideous.


It's comforting to know that robot communities are so accepting of obviously homosexual robots that they can freely wear studded leather jacket and pant ensembles without fear of being bashed by local thugs. I think I saw two guys wearing the same outfit at The Market* one time :/


They enter this black building. I'm fairly certain it's a bathhouse for gay men.


Okay, no it's not, apparently because now they're in this incredibly white room and I don't know what's going on.


They start to get cat vomit poured over them. It's hot!


Then they get appendages attached to them! Because being human means having a nose and mouth and eyes and ears and hair.


This girls obvious look of horror (can't you tell?) is because of...


THISHOLYJESUSFUCKINGCHRIST! These Daft Punk Robots need better plastic surgeons because nobody is gonna believe they're real humans, okay?!


The townspeople are aghast!


One kid drops his ice-cream and it's all very avant garde. Look how the shadows reflect the inner conflicts of robots who want to be humans.


Then they start to melt and Joan Rivers is terrified, no doubt.


In what is actually one of the most memorable sequences in the movie (suspiciously a sequence that most resembles a music video, too) they run around screaming and looking like fools.


The townspeople form a posse for, from my understanding, absolutely no reason. It's kind of cool.


Then it all goes avant garde again with the camera going on weird angles and out of focus. For a moment it feels like an M Night Shyamalan movie. "Look at me with my craaaaaazy camera angles!"


Coming up soon on Fox: Stars Without Make-Up followed by Botched Plastic Surgery and the Stars!


And now they're back to their good ol' familial faggy leather daddy selves. Aah, comfort zones.


Apparently there are monster truck tyres randomly strewn about the Californian desert.


At this point in the movie the Daft Punk Robots quite literally walk about the desert for 40 minutes. It's actually far more mesmerising than you can probably imagine.


Still walking, but from a different angle!!!!


For no real reason that I can assertain we get a five minute sequence of sand dunes. It's pretty like in The Lord of the Rings where they repeatedly showed all the snow-capped moutains of New Zealand.


In the best scene of the movie Daft Punk Robot #2 walks away from Daft Punk Robot #1 after Daft Punk Robot #1 presses a button on his back.


The Daft Punk Robot #2 explodes.


It's so awesome that they show it again!


And again!


If you happen to see this movie on DVD don't fear during this bit. I thought the DVD had frozen, but it turns out the robot just stands in the same place for five minutes. Thrilling.


ROBOT PORN!


Self-harm is not okay...


unless you're a Daft Punk Robot and it makes for an amazing final sequence. This is either really good visual effects or a great stuntman. Wow, this movie is actually more depressing than Babel. All it needs is Rinko Kikuchi flashing her vagina and it'd be an Oscar contender!


In conclusion, despite what you may sense as sarcasm (okay, a lot of it is), I did really enjoy Daft Punk's Electroma (even though the Daft Punk Robots aren't played by Daft Punk, they did write, direct and photograph it themselves). Despite it quite literally being a video clip extended to 74 minutes and there being zero dialogue (this is the second "silent" film of 2007 after Dr Plonk. how strange) amd half the movie being just like Gus Van Sant's Gerry. I was always intrigued and fascinated as to what I was looking at and I never once felt like I was going to fall asleep like I did during the quite decent Gerry. My mind keeps drifting back to Electroma days after experiencing it (I prefer to use that word than "watching" because it is more of an experience than a narrative-driven feature film). That final scene was amazing. B+

*The Market is a gay club in Melbourne.

5 comments:

J.D. said...

Damn. Robot porn. Hm. [explodes]

Unknown said...

the movie is great also ur really funny XD i was kinda sad since it made me think of how that could be a real life situation but withouht the buttons n crap exploding XD

Anonymous said...

do me a favor and stuff your under analytical eyes in your mouth and swallow.
eddie d

Anonymous said...

hey, eddie d,
you suck nuts.
eddie c

Unknown said...

What about the sceen in the land scape when they are walking with a womans body as the land scape (shot is looking between the legs).. such a well blended peice..