OK

OK
Cancel
Not on FilmNet yet? Join now!

Blog Search

Categories

Archives By Date

Archives by Blogger

Links

Follow Us

Subscribe

Forget AVATAR. This is the science-fiction movie I want to see.

November 4th, 2009 by MiamiMovieCritic in Movie Reviews

36 Stairs is the new live-action short from director Grzegorz Jonkajtys, the award-winning creator of Ark and Legacy. Viewers of those mini-masterworks know that Jonkajtys is an exceptional storyteller and a talented animator. For the first time, he’s using those gifts to make a life-action movie, and the results are nothing short of jaw-dropping.

The actual film won’t be released until early 2010. What we have here is a 75-second teaser. It provides a few tantalizing clues as to what the story is about, while fleshing out the film’s visual extravagance and dystopian, futuristic setting.

I’m assuming this is a “virtual backlot” movie, like SIN CITY and SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW. Instead of being physically constructed, the movie’s “sets” have been digitally rendered on a computer. This mix of real actors and fake sets can be distracting in films like the STAR WARS prequels, but with other filmmakers the virtual backlot is a godsend – it lets their imaginations run wild. Jonkajtys is a case in point.

The film stars Rodrigo Lopresti as Jeffrey Brief, a tragic Everyman in a world where humans depend on bio-mechanical alterations to withstand the deteriorating climate. We see a few of these alterations in the trailer, first an organic-looking respirator and later a phone that appears to be physically attached to Jeffrey’s hand. In part, the film looks to be a biological horror movie, like David Cronenberg’s VIDEODROME. Like that 1983 sci-fi masterpiece, 36 Stairs appears to be exploring how technology can overtake our lives and destroy us.

Many shots in the trailer establish the frightening world Jeffrey lives in. A scene in a hallway, with rows and rows of lockers standing sentinel while Jeffrey is backlit by a blinding light source, has the feel of a bureaucratic nightmare – like something out of Orson Welles’s THE TRIAL or Terry Gilliam’s BRAZIL. The central scene shows Jeffrey making a desperate phone call to his health insurance provider. The automated voice on the other end of the line tells him, “I’m sorry, this number is invalid.” It all feels insanely timely.

The attention to detail in the wide cityscape shots would do sci-fi heavy-hitters like Ridley Scott and James Cameron proud. In fact, forget AVATAR. This is the science-fiction movie I want to see.

Tags: , , , , , ,

  

2 Responses to “Forget AVATAR. This is the science-fiction movie I want to see.”

  1. Bearzor
    November 15th, 2009 at 3:30 am

    Hah, given the choice, I would pick this over Avatar too. Luckily we’ll be able to see both. =P

    This short is looking absolutely amazing though. I’m extremely excited.

  2. lpcyu
    March 13th, 2010 at 4:52 pm

    What It’s Like to Chill Out With Whom the World Considers the Most

    Ruthless Men in the World Ratko Mladic, Radovan Karadzic and Goran

    Hadzic (+) Confessions of a Female War Crimes Investigator

    Retrospectively, it was all so simple, natural and matter of fact being on a

    boat restaurant in Belgrade, sitting with, laughing, drinking a two hundred bottle of

    wine and chatting about war and peace while Ratko Mladic held my hand. Mladic, a

    man considered the world’s most ruthless war criminal since Adolf Hitler, still at large

    and currently having a five million dollar bounty on his head for genocide by the

    international community. Yet there I was with my two best friends at the time, a

    former Serbian diplomat, his wife, and Ratko Mladic just chilling. There was no

    security, nothing you’d ordinarily expect in such circumstances. Referring to himself

    merely as, Sharko; this is the story of it all came about.

    http://sites.google.com/site/jillstarrsite/what-it-s-like-to-chill-out-with-whom-the-rest-of

    -the-world-considers-as-the-most-ruthless-men-in-the-world-ratko-mladic-and-radovan

    -karadzic-confessions-of-a-female-war-crimes-investigator
    (Read My Entire Book Here For Free Now).

    http://picasaweb.google.com/lpcyusa
    (Jill Starr’s Entire American Expose Including the Secret Scanned Photo Documentary

    Evidence I Obtained From the CLOSED UN ICC Preparatory Meetings (2001)

    http://lpcyu.instablogs.com/feed
    (Jill Starr On Instablogs)

    http://shops.half.ebay.com/raretofindreads
    (Now Everyone Can Purchase My Rare Books)

1 Pings

  1. Tweets that mention Forget AVATAR. This is the science-fiction movie I want to see. -- Topsy.com
    November 4th, 2009 at 10:21 pm

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Last Exit To Nowhere and FilmNet, 14ifc. 14ifc said: RT @FilmNetDotCom: While you await the release of AVATAR, check out this fantastic indie sci-fi creation: http://tinyurl.com/yftzh4w [...]

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.