Caring For Your Carcass - Review

I/O (Input-Output) is a 26-page science fiction script written by Molly Vernon. The pilot episode of the series, Cattle, is set in a fictional near-future, where the state of Texas — as well as many others — has been invaded by mysterious creatures.

Everything seems pretty normal in the house of a NASA engineer, his wife, and his daughters. But the calm won’t last long. A huge misunderstanding led Sky, the nerd little sister, to access her dad’s laptop and complete what seemed to be an innocent video game. Little did she know, Mission I/O

Leontief Paradox was not a video game, but a software operating in real life — using the NASA KIDS CLUB video game interface, thus the confusion — developed by her dad to find out who was the entity trying to control the satellites, power grids, and stations. 

By achieving a stalemate in the video game, Sky set off a chain reaction that will soon have Texas occupied by ruthless and bloodthirsty creatures.

The first episode of the series spans three years, starting from year 1 since the occupation of Texas to year three, and it follows the two sisters, Sky and Ridley — with an ‘ey’, like the movie director — one free and living among the rebels and deserters, and the other held captive in a cattle pen by the Occupiers leader, the Cowboy.

A great obstacle created in this first episode is the fact that the SD card containing the game is locked, and only Sky’s and Ridley’s voices combined can unlock it. So if Sky wants to revert the results of the video game, the two girls have to find each other.

It’s always refreshing to read about young kids being main characters in sci-fi movies. Following the journey of tweens fighting missions way bigger than them leaves us with a feeling of overall endearment and slight adorability (on top of the adrenaline and scare from the rest of the story, of course). We are rooting for them to succeed!

It's a very well-written and engaging script. 

In the era of Stranger Things and other sci-fi/horror/thriller productions following teenagers, I can see this series becoming successful!

Nursery Rhyme of a Madman is a comedy-thriller feature film inspired by a Polish play called The Madman and The Nun.

The film revolves around Mitchel, a poet, who seems to have lost his mind and is now forced into a straitjacket and fed psychoactive drugs by two psychiatrists. The two doctors have drastically different approaches, and as both of them are busy studying the patient, the kind and lovely nurse swoops in and tries her own approach to cure the man: empathy, and eventually, love.

The writing is good, the dialogues definitely bring us back to the theatrical world, which is perfectly in tune with the old and dark manor house where the film is shot, as well as the intense topics treated.

Too bad the acting doesn’t really add a personal touch to the characters but rather makes them almost 2-dimensional, which is probably a director’s choice rather than a choice made by the single actors. However, the actors serve the purpose of the film well enough. However, the most intrusive element of the film was the sound, as the voices were highly reverberated making the dialogue quite distracting.

The overall film shows off a great production design, the costumes and the setting both reminisce about the end of the 19th century and were very well done.

And while line “2 doctors, 7 opinions” is way too relatable, the main takeaway of the film is a sensible critique of modern medicine, which tries to cure all the symptoms but isn’t always addressing the root cause of a disease.

A good effort with solid writing, which would benefit from a clearer identity.

What is happiness? This is the question the two authors, Nima Soofi and Daniel Ricardo Irias, try to answer in this feature documentary. 

The backstory of the film is briefly hinted at in the introduction. Soofi and Irias started traveling and interviewing people, but they were unable to complete their project due to the surge of the pandemic, therefore, they used the footage of interviews shot up until then, mixed videos of their personal journey and travels, to create a documentary about happiness. 

The two writers/directors travelled all over the world to gather their multifaceted interviews, from the US, to Thailand, to Mexico, and so on and so forth, and the many people interviewed bring so much complexity, richness and depth to their simple — yet so difficult — question.

The film shows the different journeys of all the people interviewed, which combined, create a macro journey in the discovery of love, acceptance, empathy and life.

 The interviews are very well shot, and the variety of landscapes, backgrounds, lifestyles and colors bring lots of value to the documentary. The film is moving and informative, and watching it will open the audience's eyes on many topics such as coming out, terminal diseases and abuses, and will show that love, self appreciation and family values are ultimately at the core of people’s happiness.

The photography of the film is gorgeous and the interviews are very well conducted. They are specific and they get straight to the point. The editing is very well done and the addition of some animation-like moments showing personal life and perspective of the two authors are an unexpected and clever touch.

A positive and refreshing documentary about what human happiness really is about.

Boy Scientist is a 2-minute 44 seconds animated music video directed by Susan Lim, Samudra Kajal Saikia, and Christina Teenz Tan about a boy scientist nourishing an unrequited love for a fellow girl scientist.

We’ve seen another music video directed by the same trio, Timeless, which combined a simple concept with a linear execution.

But in this video, there are almost too many elements. The animation fails to keep up with the storyline and ends up looking rough and bumpy, and the lyrics of the song are a bit scattered. The result is almost more informative than artistic; a sort of next-level educational video for children. 

The message too is discouraging and depressing.

The only elements that elevate the production are the well-recorded music arrangements, the nice melody, and the soft and soothing voice of the singer.

A music video that tries to overachieve, but that ultimately shows us that less is more. 

Timeless is a 3-minute 37 seconds animated music video directed by Susan Mey Lee Lim, Samudra Kajal Saikia, and Christina Teenz Tan.

The video shows a little girl, facing away from the audience, who walks through different landscapes, hand in hand with her teddy bear.

The mood of the video is nostalgic, as are the lyrics of the song. The video and the song want to speak to the child within each of us.

The video and the song are successful in reminding us of the times when it was enough to have a floor to sit on and an unanimated friend to talk to about our deepest secrets and fears.

The animator does a great job in bringing us back to that memory, the drawings are naïf and colorful, and the little girl walking facing away from us leaves us with a feeling of time that went by.

The song is very catchy, and the lyrics are insightful and suit the video very well. Ron Josef Danziger’s voice is warm and comforting.

A feel-good animation video that will make you go back in time.

DEAD DREAMS FALLING is no common music video. By showing a connection that goes beyond the physical dimension, the 12-minute video results in an excellent and visually striking film that mixes fantasy with a strong plot and dark high-pitched electronic music.

The music video tells the story of two twins, a man, and a woman. The man is involved in a severe motorcycle accident and is urgently brought to the hospital, hanging onto his life. At the exact same time, and in a different place, the woman is vicariously living her brother’s death. From that moment on, their bodies get spiritually reunited.

The two twins, who have been apart in life, find each other again through their deaths.

This direction is very neat, all the scenes are on point and no element is superfluous. The images are imposing and beautiful.

The acting is truthful and subtle, the actors are almost dancers who are fighting to be kept alive and together.

Despite being extremely dark and poignant, this music video turns out to be very poetic. The director proves to be very capable of keeping a balance between darkness and light, between speed and slowness, and between birth and death.

After watching this artistic and skilled video, the audience will be left wondering: will the twin souls, so strongly connected on earth, get eventually separated?