World of Tomorrow already won the Grand Jury Prize for the short film category at this year’s Sundance and was presented a couple of weeks ago at SXSW. And even when it was shown amongst a myriad of other shorts from talented directors, World of Tomorrow was simply in a league of its own – so much so that it won the best animated short prize in Austin as well.
The 16-minute film is Don Hertzfeldt’s latest work and tells the story of a three-year old girl invited to discover a vision of her own not-entirely-dystopian future, and by extension that of the whole world. While the adult guiding her through the events to come paints a rather dreadful picture, the child gleefully lacks any understanding of what her and her kind are set to face.
To the image of the child on the receiving end of it, the story-telling is simple, naive, fast-flowing and ends up on the edge of tragicomedy. The chain of events isn’t trivial to follow but it consistenly makes sense in a twisted kind of way – like a long-winded, animated installment of SMBC. Simply said, World of Tomorrow packs more sci-fi punch than most full-feature movies, with themes touching to immortality, time-travel, conscience, communication, ethics.
Below is the one-minute trailer – I wholeheartedly recommend renting the full-length version which was released today on Vimeo.
Montage of Heck is the title of tape recorded by Kurt Cobain in his teenage years. It’s now also the title of Brett Morgen’s newest documentary, which focuses on the life of the person who would ultimately turn into one of the 20th century most iconic pop idol.
Through a collaboration with Kurt’s daughter Frances, Morgen was given unprecedented access to the raw material left behind by Cobain: pictures, footage, notebooks. Most of this had not been read or listened to since they had been written or recorded by Kurt himself. Morgen also got hold of video archives from Kurt’s very childhood, back in the 68~69 years. He then proceeded to interview Kurt’s family and friends: both parents, his stepmother, his sister and his teenage girlfriend… Krist Novoselic and Courtney Love are also part of this.
For the parts he didn’t have any footage for, Morgen turned to animation. This is a truly bold move but it fits entirely with the storytelling of the film. You can see Kurt thrown from a home to another at a time he was seeking stability. You can see him write and compose the Nevermind songs in the small apartment he shared with his then girlfriend.
In cases where the source material comes from the notebooks, Morgen animated the writing and the doodles drawn by Cobain, letting the words and pictures twirl around and come to life and depict Kurt’s state of mind at the time. David Geffen’s number may appear between a sentence alluding to the abortion of the Christ and a map of the neighborhood in which Nirvana would play later that day.
Mini-spoiler alert: do not expect to see Dave Grohl speaking in this film. This was actually the very first question asked in the Q&A and the director replied jokingly:
Really? He’s not in there? Did anybody else notice?
He then proceeded to explain his intention was to make a movie about Kurt and not about Nirvana. Of course, the two are inextricably intertwined but the focus on Kurt’s close entourage proves invaluable to better understand his persona independently of his musical success. Even though Dave is a integral part of Nirvana, he’s first and foremost a professional musician, a modern-era rock star with ethics and a passion. Krist, however, was Kurt’s best friend.
Montage of Heck is in a league of its own. It’s simply something that was never done or attempted before – and anything else coming after will have a very hard time to top it. The combination of intent, focus and passion makes it a remarkable documentary about one man’s life: one of genius, influence and ruin.
Peace Officer is the story of Dub Lawrence. Presently a retired sheriff in a small town in Utah, Dub was elected in the 1970’s, at a time where SWAT teams were all the rage and local communities, following the example of Los Angeles, were allocating budget to train their men and provide them with gear. Thirty years later, the war on drugs and then the war on terror have created a climate of angst and violence. The very SWAT team that Dub helped found is called to a scene at Dub’s daughter’s house. After hours of negotiation, Dub’s son-in-law is killed, and Dub goes back to what he knows how to do: investigating and seeking fairness.
The documentary touches to the problem of the militarization of the police, an issue that was raised during the events of Ferguson last summer. Though it focuses solely on Utah, the situation is likely the same in other cities and states: the bill that lets the US Army donate used military gear to local state police comes with a provision mandating the use of said gear in the field within the first year. Violence has become a state of mind, ingrained in the culture of states and cities law enforcement agencies.
Dub is contacted by several other families whose house was stormed and, in each case, finds troubling evidence that not only are SWAT teams essentially seeking to execute their targets rather than serving a search warrant, but the forensics conducted at the crime scene do not actually line up with the recounting of the raid by the agents.
This might be pushing the envelope but what struck me is the similarity of Dub’s initiative with that of Edward Snowden. Their actions are radically different in terms of scope and impact. But at core, they do share a lot: one person working for the government, coming from a family of civil servants, in a position to serve their community and ultimately deciding to take a stance against what they perceive as an obvious violation of the rights of the people. One is fighting a state of massive surveillance while the other is fighting a state of pervasive violence.
In both cases, observing the reaction and justifications of the elected officials is key – how justice is served is another interesting aspect of both stories. The most striking quote for me comes from a high-ranking police official in Utah:
The police can be perfectly justified to to kill an innocent person
That about sums it all. Peace Officer won the documentary grand jury prize at SXSW.
