"The so-called consumer society and the politics of corporate capitalism have created a second nature of man which ties him libidinally and aggressively to the commodity form. The need for possessing, consuming, handling and constantly renewing, offered to and imposed upon the people, has become a biological need." - Herbert Marcuse
Lee Kirk's "The Giant Mechanical Man" stars Chris Messina as a street performer who parodies the drudgery of consumer capitalism by dressing up as a giant robotic man. In love with him is Janice, infectiously played by Jenna Fischer, a middle aged woman who likewise feels out-of-sync with the world. Both characters drift aimlessly through life, finding little value in civilizational offerings and sceptical of the slogans, buzzwords and rituals of those around them.
"Man" has been criticised for its one dimensional portrayal of everyone outside of its romantic couple. But that is also the point. Like an indie version of philosopher Herbert Marcuse's "One-Dimensional Man", Lee's portraying a society that has been moulded, institutionalised and preconditioned to accept what is essentially shared psychosis. Lee's characters are obsessed with conquest, acquisition, marketing themselves (and others), and assigning value to everything and anything they touch. Writing for an economic journal decades ago, Albert Einstein would denounce this as man's "predatory phase", but to Janice and Chris, it's nothing less than poison. Everyone else thinks they're nuts.
Regardless, "Mechanical Man" struggles to sustain its message. The film eventually devolves into indie-clichés and a terrible final credits sequence in which love and penguins conquer all. The film contains an interesting subplot "about" silent film, and includes a scene in which Janice dons baggy clothes, a sequence which aptly recalls Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times".
7.9/10 – See "Eagle vs Shark", "Ghost World", "Wendy and Lucy" and "Land of Plenty".
Lee Kirk's "The Giant Mechanical Man" stars Chris Messina as a street performer who parodies the drudgery of consumer capitalism by dressing up as a giant robotic man. In love with him is Janice, infectiously played by Jenna Fischer, a middle aged woman who likewise feels out-of-sync with the world. Both characters drift aimlessly through life, finding little value in civilizational offerings and sceptical of the slogans, buzzwords and rituals of those around them.
"Man" has been criticised for its one dimensional portrayal of everyone outside of its romantic couple. But that is also the point. Like an indie version of philosopher Herbert Marcuse's "One-Dimensional Man", Lee's portraying a society that has been moulded, institutionalised and preconditioned to accept what is essentially shared psychosis. Lee's characters are obsessed with conquest, acquisition, marketing themselves (and others), and assigning value to everything and anything they touch. Writing for an economic journal decades ago, Albert Einstein would denounce this as man's "predatory phase", but to Janice and Chris, it's nothing less than poison. Everyone else thinks they're nuts.
Regardless, "Mechanical Man" struggles to sustain its message. The film eventually devolves into indie-clichés and a terrible final credits sequence in which love and penguins conquer all. The film contains an interesting subplot "about" silent film, and includes a scene in which Janice dons baggy clothes, a sequence which aptly recalls Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times".
7.9/10 – See "Eagle vs Shark", "Ghost World", "Wendy and Lucy" and "Land of Plenty".