When Phil first told us Daft Punk‘s limited release movie Electroma was playing in Royal Oak, my first reaction was something like: “OMFG!!!!!!!!11one”. I wanted to badly to like the movie, but in the end we spent $6.50 each and an hour and a half in the theatre, and I was left feeling cheated.
The basic plot premise is 2 robots who desire to be human, but in the end realize they can never be. Yes, it’s been done before, but that didn’t matter.
Without giving too much away, the movie was 75 minutes long but could have run 15-20 minutes and still delivered it’s punch. The 10 minute opening sequence of nothing but the robots driving a car through the desert started the whole movie off in a way that made the audience wonder what they had gotten themselves into. I know this because everyone was speaking out loud and bored of it already. Then add in the gratuitous 10 minute shot of the robot equivalent of plastic surgery, the 10 minute trip of a bathroom florescent that won’t stay on while the robots stare longingly, and a few more way-too-long shots of the robots walking alone thought the desert 2 or 3 different times, and you’ve got 3/4 of the movie that really did not have to be there. I understand using monotony as a plot and emotional device, but come on!
Final verdict:
Visually, the movie was stunning. The bathroom & the climactic scene were pretty amazing & trippy at the same time. However, the way it just dragged on with the same shot for minutes at a time was annoying. 75 minutes could have been condensed to 20-30 minutes and kept the attention span of the audience.
Matt, your review is spot on. The visual imagery was excellent, and the storyline was somewhat interesting, but the entire thing was WAY too drawn out. Many of the scenes (driving, walking through the desert, etc.) could have been condensed to a couple of minutes each, and I think the same effect would have been achieved.
What about the soundtrack? Pretty good, IMO.
Electrocrap