God is a Deejay?
I know this isn't really our purvue, but this is probably the best short film I've ever seen. Dialog free, under ten minutes, made for $500, and yet manages to be funny, poignant, cool, engaging, and thought-provoking all at the same time. Also does more to bring up the questions of free will, divine justice, causality and the "hand of god" than just about any feature film which tries to hammer at the same. All without being preachy about it. Perfect. Let me know what y'all think.
posted by Pascals Bookie @ 2:21 AM
4 Comments:
Not to be the nerd in the crowd, but this short, entitled "Spin," was released on AtomFilms sometime last year, after it screened at two different film festivals. More info here.
I, too, think it is a great short. It's not preachy, and gives a sense of the subtle role what divine entity may exist plays in our lives. Though, I think it's more about how divinity resides in the connection that we all share. This film was more of an exploration of alternate realities through the subtle influence of a shared conscience, personified by the super-hero/"god" character of the dj.
He's really more of a super hero, indicated at the end, when he dashes off before anything else bad happens that he feels compelled to remedy.
P.S.: I'll look into funkyness with the blog interface.
Yeah. I just like that he doesn't do anything to interfere with free will, he just puts the pieces in place to let everybody make their own better choices. (I particularly dig the images of the old man discovering his childlike self playing with the basketball, and of the little girl strolling in between the gangbangers.)
I almost want to write a book about why the turntables work so much better as the "tool" here than, say, the computer in Bruce Almighty. They just seem more tactile, show a degree of finesse, set the tone for the film, and give you everything you need to know about who the guy is. Plus, the quick shots of setting up and tearing down (albeit ripped off from Requiem For A Dream) are just perfect.
And by the way, the correct answer to "God is a deejay?" is, "Dude! God is THE deejay!"
Calvinism: You've Read the Book, Now Join the Elect!
In all seriousness, I've now had the time to view the short clip and I do like it.
I agree largely with what's been said so far, and would like to add that I found the alternate-reality concept really appealing. The idea that each choice can create "unrealized realities" (to borrow from Farscape) with new unintended consequences is really interesting; tangents create more tangents!
Let me also say that the turntable metaphor is excellent. The only metaphor that remains better, relative to divine 'involvement' in human time, is that of a stream. Whereas we are part of the flotsam flowing downstream very slowly, God (or what you will) can dam the stream here or there and alter its course in slight ways. However, this would impossible to render in a short film and doesn't display the 'finesse' anywhere near as well as the "DJ" concept.
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