You possibly can inform that the Overlook’s organizer have already cultivated a receptive viewers for his or her programming given how engaged and targeted theatergoers’ questions had been after every screening. Individuals had been actually excited to search out out extra about no matter they only noticed, together with a particular screening of “Me,” Don Hertzfeldt’s trippy, unsettling 23-minute lengthy musical. Most individuals within the viewers had been already conversant in Hertzfeldt and his idiosyncratic model: earlier than the film performed, pageant programmer Landon Zakheim joked that the 4 individuals who had been unfamiliar with Hertzfeldt’s work had been in for an actual deal with.
“Me” nonetheless feels very very similar to its personal factor, regardless of some similarities to Herzfeldt’s earlier work. It’s a largely dialogue-free science-fiction saga about expertise, household, and self-absorption, and it follows cranky-looking potato-shaped stick determine individuals who spend manner an excessive amount of time killing one another and/or gazing techno-mediated pictures of themselves. “Me” is unusual and enchanting, the proper alternative for a one-afternoon-only pageant screening.
After the screening, Hertzfeldt entertained questions from keen followers. He joked that we had been the fourth viewers to see his new quick, which isn’t fairly #1 and even #2, however nonetheless has some form of attraction. Hertzfeldt additionally supplied some welcome insights in regards to the making of “Me” which fortunately by no means defined away its distinctive mixture of nightmarish imagery and silver-lined optimism. It was thrilling to take heed to Hertzfeldt speak about refined musical influences, like Klaus Nomi and the “JFK” soundtrack. He additionally spoke with guarded pleasure about his subsequent challenge, an Ari-Aster-produced animated horror film (Hertzfeldt’s function debut). That screening of “Me” felt like an occasion, not as a result of we solely thought we knew what to anticipate, however as a result of that film and the Overlook usually had been clearly designed with the curious in thoughts, and never simply pre-initiated cultists.
Developing: “Useless Mail,” “Infested,” and different Overlook Movie Pageant highlights.