“It’s hard to tell how futuristic this quirky little film is, as many of the morals being questioned are being played out today…Writer-director Noah Hutton’s script hardly feels like science fiction, but it’s good social commentary..”
“An interesting low budget working class sci-fi, with a political edge that works well within its limits”
Con Nats
3 /5 Crackberries
Ray is a big boofy bloke who cares for his brother, who’s suffering Omnia, a type of chronic fatigue syndrome. To help cover his expensive treatment, he takes on a job laying cable through forests, as a foot soldier in the gig economy.
Once you reach the end of your route, you connect to a transmitter and the money is yours. The only hitch is if a robot cabler overtakes you and gets there first. You lose the route and payment, so it’s important to stop them without being caught.
It takes a while for this film to get to this point and this is when it starts to become interesting. Ray bought a used medallion (license) and his trek name stops others dead. He pushes on. It’s only when he is about to lose a lucrative route to a robot, he becomes desperate. Anna, who he shares a route with, has a lot of answers to all his questions, but they’re soon set apart.
It’s hard to tell how futuristic this quirky little film is, as many of the morals being questioned are being played out today. Workers are being offered lots of flexibility and easy money, with harsh unconscionable penalties (Hello Uber!). Companies are making billions through a well disguised monopoly. The environment is being trampled in the name of more cables. Writer-director Noah Hutton’s script hardly feels like science fiction, but it’s good social commentary.
Dean Imperial is very good as Ray and has a touch of James Gandolfini to his acting. (It brings a laugh when someone says he has a bit of ‘gangster’ about him.) Madeline Wise as Anna has a very likeable dead pan delivery about her.
This is the sort of film that if you caught it at a film festival, you’d tick it off as a “good ‘un” and move on. An interesting low budget working class sci-fi, with a political edge that works well within its limits. What’s on next?
Con Nats, On The Screen
