When it feels like the end of the world | First Watches: October 2024
Explore heartbreak and horror with cartoon robots, madcap car fights, Chinese time-travelers, and a terrifying clown.
Robot Dreams (2023)
You will relate to this 2D dog and his ‘bot.
This carries quite complex themes for a cutesy animated movie about a dog and his robot. It’s not a stretch to say it resembles 2023's Past Lives, which explored that “right person, wrong moment” idea beautifully.
Here, the characters are simply called “Dog” and “Robot” — they never speak — but they are unique, multifaceted individuals. As the credits roll, you’ll feel you know them so well that they must have spoken, at some point, along the way. But no! Director Pablo Berger is clearly just a very capable storyteller.
Dog takes his beloved best pal, “Robot”, to the beach. But he runs out of battery. While Dog seeks help, his one route back to the beach is locked for winter and won’t reopen until the following year. We witness both characters’ attempts to deal with this separation. It can feel episodic, but hangs together well. The animation style is basic and colourful, but it’s always charming — the real detail is in how these characters move through their world.
Dreams, as the title suggests, and other equally vulnerable moments, reveal their concerns, angst, doubts, and insecurities. They are asking, how does my friend feel? How might I help him? Does he need me? Whether you like it or not, you will relate to this 2D dog and his ‘bot, because this story is based on a universal experience. Relationships come and go, whether with a romantic partner, or a school friend.
We don’t always seek to sever ties, either. And we wonder if we could ever resurrect the bond we once shared, with them or with someone new, or if looking back too much and for too long, despite radical change, is self indulgent or needy. It’s not a perfect film, but it leaves a mark.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
Everything is trying to kill everyone.
It’s OK, to be honest. I had a good time. But Furiosa pales into insignificance next to Fury Road which is nothing but a relentless masterpiece, much of which was done for real. Shooting conditions were so exhausting and dangerous that this prequel was reigned in considerably and in place of that real feel comes shiny CGI fakeness.
Sadly, none of the action is as jaw-dropping as in 2015’s entry. Cars are flung. People jump off stuff. Explosions aplenty. But there is no weight. It is not tangible, feeling rather like a PS3 cutscene.
However! The worldbuilding is excellent. This carries over the aesthetic George Miller brought to Fury Road, with all its extravagant costuming and set designs, and delves deeper into character and story. Keep your eyes peeled for weird details, including the big bloke who’s constantly massaging his nipples onscreen (and off, most probably).
Where before, this universe felt like one very long stretch of desert road, it’s now — definitely Australia — inhabited by all sorts of weirdos living in all manor of depraved conditions and everything is trying to kill everyone.
All told, it’d make a fantastic graphic novel. The dialogue goes on a bit, so cut that down; the music isn’t as good, so just replay the music from Fury Road; and things look naff in motion, so capture the chaos with illustrations. Keep the visual flare, double down on those spectacular designs, and pump out an unending oddball series of comic books. Why not? Instead, we’re going to get another one of these called “The Wasteland”. Let’s hope it’s a lot more furious than Furiosa.
Escape From The 21st Century (2024)
I didn’t expect it to pull at my heartstrings.
Mad. Energetic. Overwhelming. Director Li Yang practically forces you into having a good time. Take Everything Everywhere All At Once and times it by ten. For many, that was a surprisingly coherent, though chaotic, introduction to the multiverse concept (mine was in Farscape); its batshit energy matched its audience’s open-mouthed sense of wonder. But even that can’t compete with this in terms of sheer bamboozlement.
It’s like what might happen if you threw a stack of comics at a ceiling fan.
Somehow, Escape From The 21st Century’s closest competition is the dizzying animation styles of the Spider-Verse, despite it being live action. They’ve thrown everything at this; the story sees three school boys find a way to transport their minds into their older bodies, through time. It’s a bright, cheerful, striking romp — and without losing any of its pace — it’s also dark, brooding, action-packed. I didn’t expect it to pull at my heartstrings — when it feels like the end of the world because you can feel yourself getting older — but it does that too.
The film runs for just 98 minutes and it’s extremely dense. The editing job must have been monumental (imagine finding room for all those needle drops). If I’d had a headache the day I saw it, I might suggest that the characters need more time to establish depth — but I didn’t, so I won’t.
I was left with the sense I’d seen three movies at once—which many might say sounds like a criticism, but Li Yang comes out of the gate all guns blazing. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) felt like three movies, poorly stitched together. This is much better. This has energy and it never runs low. Sure, some of the CGI is crummy. But I’d say that just adds to the sense that this is totally bonkers.
Terrifier (2016)
There’s a sick sense of “fun”.
I can see why this spawned sequels. Some moments and imagery in Terrifier are simply grotesque— almost too much, if I’m being honest. But overall, it’s a back to basics approach to horror and, more specifically, a horror villain. Although it’s near unwatchable at times, we have a brand new chilling and intriguing evil-doer in Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton). He doesn’t pull his punches. He’s relentless, sadistic. And a complete mystery!
We have a hint of what’s beneath the surface without being burdened by backstory, thank goodness. There’s a sick sense of “fun” in how he misleads his victims, dons disguises, and mimes without yelping when he gets hurt. What’s his motive? How is he so unstoppable?
Even the plot is straightforward. Some girls get trapped in an abandoned building and they’re picked off one by one. However, Art does face a wave of counter attacks from them, especially Tara (Jenna Kanell) and Victoria (Samantha Scaffidi), who don’t go down without a fight.
There’s a scrappy, shithole vibe that’s really only accomplishable with a low budget and clever lighting. Saw (2004) was a brilliant first entry because we knew nothing of its villain, Jigsaw, yet he seemed so omnipotent and unbeatable. The characters were stuck in this festering, ruined underground bathroom, and had to hack away at themselves with rusty instruments.
And in much the same way that Saw spawned a new horror icon, Terrifier seems to create a new legacy in Art. The third entry came out this year.
Also recommended:
- Doctor Who: The Daleks in Colour (2023) — Startling to see such early footage crisp and in colour. Shame about the edit.
- Lifted (2006) — An amusing 5-minute animated skit from the folks at Pixar about an alien who can’t drive.
- Baby Reindeer (2024) —Shocking and cathartic Netflix series; a fantastic character study that explores what it’s like to have faced abuse.
- Table 19 (2017) — An oddly poignant romcom that feels as if it spends its entire runtime ending.
- Problemista (2023) — Deeply quirky and scatterbrained. Strong, lovable, flawed characters, meandering through insurmountable bureaucracy.
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