The
actual short comes encased in a hardbacked coffee-table
book with 40 pages of full-color and pen-and-ink nightmare
images created by Chris Cunningham. Many of these images
explore Cunningham's fascination with destroying the human
body and morphing it to strange shapes. (Many of the images
actually seem to be formed by Photoshopping men's anuses
and testicles together in strange, vaguely human forms.)
With
that in mind, the whole thing becomes more a strange work
of art than anything else.
Visual
Look
The visual look of the film is designed to be vaguely terrifying
and unsettling. The way this is accomplished is through
the use of night vision mode in the camcorder that recorded
all of Rubber Johnny's cellar world.
Johnny's
malformed body is huddled into his wheel chair until the
Aphex Twin music really gets going and then it starts gyrating
and break dancing to the rhythm. The only other imagery
is that of a flickering fluorescent light, an exploding
balloon with the title, and a luminescent eyed Chihuahua
named Elvis.
The
visual look of the film is effective for enstilling a vague
sense of dread and wonder in mind of the viewer, though
the only times that the film looks like the coffee-table
book are at the times when Rubber Johnny's head splatters
grotesquely into the camera lens for a moment.
Use
of Audio
The pulsing music is effective for this video, tying the
dark imagery of the green-tinted camera eye with the compulsive
beat of Aphex Twin. The only other audio in the piece is
the scream from Johnny's father and the explosion of the
balloon with Johnny's name at the beginning, both of which
retain a guttural edge to accent the brutality of Johnny's
meager surroundings.
Use
of Budget
Considering the amount visual effects work required as well
as the strobing camera shots, to speak nothing of the actual
shooting with the night-vision camera, I would say that
the budget was used effectively for the desired outcome.
The amount of detail required must have been very meticulous
and time/money consuming.
Lasting
Appeal
If you are a fan of noir music videos, then you may pull
this out and watch it every week. For those of us with somewhat
less avant-garde tastes, once every few months will probably
do it for Rubber Johnny.
Editors
will definitely want to pick up a copy as the editing in
this video is quite impressive. Graphic designers who are
inspired by M.C. Escher and Edvard Munch will want to pick
this work up for the truly mind blowing book of original
Chris Cunningham art.
In addition
to professional reasons for buying Rubber Johnny,
there is something truly entertaining about showing this
strange video to house guests. I showed it to a friend of
mine and, after he saw it, he insisted that I let him bring
over his wife to watch it--just
so he could watch her freak out. Now, that's entertainment!
Overall
Comment
More of a strange book of artwork with a truly bizarre music
video enclosed on DVD than an actual short, Rubber Johnny
is definitely a good example of pushing the envelope on
the short form. Considering that you get it all for $15,
it's a worthy addition to anyone's DVD collection and may
just inspire you to push the envelope yourself.
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Content
|
7.5
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Visual
Look
|
8.5
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Use
of Audio
|
9.0
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Use
of Budget
|
8.0
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Lasting
Appeal
|
7.0
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Overall
Score
|
8.0
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