We should brace ourselves for the upcoming onslaught of movies about know-how and its controlling affect. We’re nonetheless determining what its use means for nearly all the things in our lives. Some (most?) of the movies can be underwhelming, however a couple of will inevitably take us abruptly by how insightful they develop into. Technically director Jason Corgan Brown’s Frank’s Deep Fake predated the arrival and launch of ChatGPT, however I couldn’t assist however give it some thought whereas watching. Indie sci-fi can generally be outright bananas, however this can be a uncommon instance exhibiting a extra thorough examination of heady ideas.
Screenwriters Brown and star Jeter Rhodes have made a dense movie. That’s not one thing we often say about indie sci-fi/conspiracy mashups, however the shoe matches. We observe Frank (Rhodes), an Army veteran in rural North Carolina who spends his life within the service of a seemingly all-powerful technological group or entity. He is ostensibly tasked to create unusual movies compiled with archival U.S. Army informational movies spliced with that of a younger comic (Violet Paley).
“…Frank is visited at evening by a neon purple overlord and should or could not encounter a nuclear explosion…”
Along the way in which, Frank is visited at evening by a neon purple overlord and should or could not encounter a nuclear explosion of kinds within the close to future. Brief glimpses into Frank’s previous as a soldier reveal he was aware of some shady governmental experiments within the desert. What does it imply, and the way is it tied into the current? Hell, if I do know, however I had enjoyable on the journey.
The narrative is a bit messy, and I’m not 100% certain I adopted all of Frank’s Deep Fake all through its 52-minute runtime. It doesn’t utterly detract from having fun with the movie, however giving the viewers one thing extra tangible to seize onto is usually helpful for an image like this. Even so, Brown and Rhodes set up a convincing dystopian world whereby we query the very actuality of what we’re viewing and what it occurs to imply for our future if our lives are not ours. In some ways, the movie jogs my memory of Shane Carruth’s seminal Upstream Color as a result of even when it’s not probably the most accessible work to make sense of, there’s little question that we’re watching a movie of import — or at the least one not afraid to confront advanced concepts head-on.
Ideas drive one of the best sci-fi, indie, or tentpole. Frank’s Deep Fake has them in spades. Behind the razzle-dazzle of many large-scale sci-fi movies typically lies empty metaphors and banal commentary on trendy existence. They could also be fairly to have a look at it, however similar to that may of Mountain Dew, it’s in need of any lasting sustenance. Jason Corgan Brown is a person of concepts, and movies like this remind us of the lasting influence nice sci-fi can have on audiences. With correct sources and a few narrative self-discipline, there’s no cause why Brown shouldn’t have a crack at a extra substantial undertaking.
For extra details about Frank’s Deep Fake, go to the Corgan Pictures web site.
