Electroma (2006)

What a waste of my time!!!

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

If anything, Electroma should be taken just like any other experimental, art-house cinema film. This is borderline impossible when it's not just Electroma, but "Daft Punk's" Electroma, the tag line is "It's a Daft Punk vision" and you've got the Daft Punk logo emblazoned on the back of the two protagonists' jackets. For this, I feel like the film falters from a bit of ego, but just think how much worse it would've been if they'd used their own music.That being said, as a so-called art-house picture, Electroma is okay. There isn't much plot to follow and the "HUMAN" license plate is about as trite as calling this an interpretation of the difficulties of fitting into society, but in terms of something to look at, it's really really gorgeous. Considering Bangalter had little to no experience in cinematography prior to this, he's done a fantastic job. Each shot is quite beautiful in its own way, aesthetically speaking, particularly the final one.What I'm trying to say is, don't go into Electroma expecting brilliance, because it isn't. Take it for what it is: a mildly pretentious if not borderline dull, yet visually stunning piece of celluloid. It's ripe for interpretation (or none at all) which will grant it some sort of cult following. Hopefully a midnight-film of sorts.P.S. The soundtrack they did choose complements the film perfectly. And if "the" notorious desert close-up scene doesn't get this passed around film circles for years to come, I don't know what will.

The movie might clearly be connected to more trivial, yet also more inspirational and loved, movies like D.A.R.Y.L. from 1985. It is very likely that, in their childhood, the authors experienced watching this semi-unknown home video featuring a robot kid becoming a kid and facing the issues the Government is giving it (or him) in its attempt to dismantle the device. Go check out the movie, or watch it if you please, and post a comment. Works from Daft Punk are overwhelming with quotations and atmospheres of that techno-romantic and dreamlike spirit that features every little memory of movies and music, toys and magazines from the 80s that everyone who made it to 1989 being no older than 15 and no younger than 2 feels whenever he/she thinks back about the scenarios of his/her childhood.

It doesn't bother me in the slightest whether people think this film references others or not. That's irrelevant because it just works - it's delightfully simple, beautifully shot, visually arresting and surprisingly poetic.Part of the charm of this film is both the fun (the makeover) and then the quite moving climax in the desert. It works against all your expectations of Daft Punk (and their music) and in many ways this is what makes this also quite special. The choice of music is sublime, and the pace itself becomes quite hypnotic. In fact the pace seems to be one thing that people use to critique this film as though it's somehow pretentious..which itself is an absurd and dimwitted comment really, because the playful charm of the silent characters themselves is anything but pretentious. Hell, if that's pretentious, the world needs a lot more of it because we are drowning in the bile spewing from the Hollywood trough.As an older Daft Punk fan, probably more in tune with their own age and tastes i loved this film. Also worth a mention that there's a very Kubrick-esquire 2001 look to one scene (thumbs up there!)Ignore the doubters. Sit back and immerse yourself in Electroma. In time this will definitely considered a classic concept film by one of the more innovative electronic artists of our age.Human After All

It begins like a 70's Road Movie filmed by Antonioni and it ends like Gus Van Saint's "Gerry" with robots instead of humans. "Electroma" is an experimental trip that supposedly completes Daft Punk's last album : "Human after all" like "Interstella 5555" completed "Discovery" (but the two projects, beside their experimental faces, are here merely link one with another, whereas the last movie had strong connections with the album and the video clips). Here's a few things to know before watching this movie if you don't want to be too surprise or disappointed : it has absolutely no dialogs in it, the story is linear and simple and allows long experimental and contemplative sequences and the soundtrack isn't made by Daft Punk (even if it's omnipresent and very good : Brian Eno, Sebastien Tellier, Gregory Allegri...).The movie is clearly divided in three parts, each lasts approximately 20 minutes long, except the desert part, which may be a little bit longer (but that may be a subjective impression...)SUBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION OF THE MOVIE. The first part is a road movie, with a video clip's editing style, where you see the two Daft Punk Robots traveling across the California desert. The references of the musicians are clearly shown here : the movie effectually looks like a crossover between "2001, a space Odyssey" and "Easy Rider", with robots in a big black car. The scene is rather pleasant, very aesthetically, and seems like a long and beautiful video clip d'auteur or like a 70's art video.The second part is a mix between "THX 1138" and a grotesque horror movie, with the Daft Punk arriving in a typically American city full of robots, where they experience a operation, that transforms them to human, after all. They come out of the laboratory with caricature faces, and walk through the city, where the other robots stare at them with their surprised artificial eyes. But their carnival figures melt like ice-cream in the sun, and they have to get ride of them rather rapidly, and to become the Daft Punk again. The last part fallows the two robots in the desert, where they walk and walk, and walk again (they're robots, they're never tired or hungry, they can walk endlessly...). There's then this secession of desert's frames, finishing with Courbet's "L'Origine du monde", that is rather ridiculous, but wakes the spectator up (I have to say that the movie is released in one Theatre in Paris, and has a unique weekly projection the Saturday at midnight !). SPOILER AHEAD (even if it's merely a narrative movie).Then, the two robots get tired of walking and even of living a robot's life : one explodes in a "Zabriskie Point"'s style, the other becomes the Human Torch (or the Robot Torch). END OF TELLING THE END OF THE MOVIE.The all thing is a pleasant but rather unoriginal (too many references) experimental movie, that links video clip with artistically experience and cinema.