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Post by Dave on Mar 28, 2005 23:43:39 GMT
i don't know about anyone else, but I am very excited about the release of Chris Cunningham's latest work... a short film called Rubber Johnny. The warpfilms site says it is released the 16th of May! For those who are unfamiliar with Chris Cunningham's work, he is best known for his music video promo work. These include the Aphex Twin videos for Come To Daddy and Windowlicker, Bjork's All is Full of Love video and the Squarepusher video, Come on My Selector. Rubber Johnny seems to be about some kind of red-neck couple that have a severely retarded and deformed son called Johnny, who they keep locked in their basement. Sounds pretty grim, but I can't wait to see how Chris plays it out (darkly humourous and surreal I suspect). The film's music is also to be Aphex Twin's work, so that's another reason I'm getting excited! You can see the short (but still disturbing, so be warned!) trailer here: www.drukqs.net/click.htmlwhere it was used to promote the Aphex Twin album, Druqks. |
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Post by Dave on Apr 7, 2005 13:39:11 GMT
There is now an official minisite for Rubber Johnny (not that it seems anyone else is interested! Ha ha). www.rubberjohnny.tvThis new site features another worrying little excerpt from the film. Enjoy. |
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Post by Russ3001 on Apr 14, 2005 19:50:36 GMT
jesus christ  |
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Post by Dave on Apr 29, 2005 18:34:12 GMT
I just read somewhere that the release of Rubber Johnny has been put back about a month!  Seems to be because the Italian printers that were to be printing the accompanying booklet and packaging have refused to handle the job because they don't want to subject their staff to such imagery. It gets more interesting by the second. ;D |
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Post by BrotherNumberOne on Apr 30, 2005 8:15:07 GMT
Holy shit. This looks good.
I don't like Aphex Twin, but the window licker vid is awesome, but this...man it is just twisted as fuck. They way I like it.
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Post by Dave on May 1, 2005 16:17:57 GMT
Amazon have it for pre-order now. This means they have a picture of the cover.... I have attached it below.... People of a nervous disposition look away now! Ha ha Rubber Johnny has been doing some serious shape shifting in this pic. Amazing effects work!! . . . . . . .  Quite funny that on Amazon they recommend Dead Man's Shoes if you are buying this! ;D Must surely only be due to the Warp Film connection. |
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Post by BrotherNumberOne on May 2, 2005 7:22:29 GMT
Jesus H Christ. That looks fucked up. I guess you get the DVD free with the book huh? I shall scoot over to Amazon right away.
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Post by Dave on Jun 30, 2005 20:59:43 GMT
At last.. got round to seeing this the other day!
Absolutely amazing. It's not really much of a story or anything like that, but more an incredible feat of editing and synching to a track from Aphex Twins Druqks album.
It is definitely a giant case of style over substance, but then I don't think it pertains to be anything more than that. It is purely an artwork.
Less disturbing than I was expecting, although it is definitely very odd indeed! The weirdest and most freaky images are of Johnny pressing himself up against glass. You only see tiny fractions of a second each time, but he is bizarelly mangled on each impact with the glass.
I think it has tremendous rewatch value if you have any interest in editing, and especially editing to sounds/music. I read somewhere that Chris Cunningham spent weeks on just a few seconds of edits!
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Post by deadmansrockports on Aug 1, 2005 18:00:58 GMT
I bought 'Rubber Johnny' the other day and was pretty disturbed by what i saw in the book. The video itself is less disturbing and i actually found it quite funny in parts. It begins very freakishly with the mock interview but as soon as he begins his 'dance' routine it loses its 'horror' impact. However I think it is amazing and in keeping with his other Aphex twin videos.
Keep it up christopher lad!!
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Post by Dave on Aug 1, 2005 18:12:47 GMT
I have yet to see the book of artwork.
Is there any clue as to how he has achieved such bizarre and nasty looking images? Is it just photo manipulation, or is it actual prosthetic limbs, etc. I know that Chris Cunningham had a hand in film special effects work in the past, and has always had a fascination with the sructure of the the human body.
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Post by deadmansrockports on Aug 1, 2005 18:40:23 GMT
It looks to me asif Its been achieved using digital manipulation. The book is much worse than the video. They are seperate pieces really. The first half of the book is made up of variations of the image on the front cover then the second half is comprised of stills from the short itself. As you said the most disturbing parts of the film are the sections were johnny presses his face up against the screen. There are many stills from that part featured in the book. Im quite puzzled by the guy who opens up the door and spouts some dialogue at johnny. Can you tell what he is saying?
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Post by Dave on Aug 1, 2005 19:53:07 GMT
Not that you can tell from simply watching the short, but the man that opens the door is Johnny's father. Well, I'm pretty sure because I remember reading early press releases about it.
As for what he says, it is very difficult to make out some of it (it may just be mumblings), but the rest is just swearing directed at Johnny.
The first time he opens the door, I can make out:
Mumble mumble (the loud slap noise possibly conceals the C word there!) "Oh, f**ks sake.. you great clot you!" mumble (something about his mother perhaps?!)
Second time door opens:
"you great clot you.... you're gone and... for f**ks sake look at that crap..... f**k stupid f**k" door closes "..stupid f**king thing..." more mumbles...
Ha ha.. that's my effort anyway. Probably all wrong.
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Post by deadmansrockports on Aug 1, 2005 20:06:09 GMT
Naaaaaa, you've done quite well there mate, I just watched it again and you're on the money.
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Post by RydCook on Aug 7, 2005 13:01:53 GMT
hey guys, i saw this film the other day and thought it to be an amazing piece of work! i found it more funny than disturbing, but thats just the way i am, and certainly, the squashing up against the glass was a bit eww. no one has mentioned the legendary dog! love that little guy/girl. another thing about this film i loved was the credits, i love the idea of filming words instead of like digitally creating them if you get me? just awesome, and the way the lights flicker on and off thats really cool. the film seems to be filmed in like a night view mode and then edited to make it really jumpy. It's a great film, and i look forward to more stuff from both Chris Cunningham and warp films.
_RyD
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Post by deadmansrockports on Aug 8, 2005 10:47:48 GMT
The dog is very cool, Cunningham has stretched its head just like he did to the scottish girl in the playstation advert from years ago. I'd love to know how he made it look so pefect.
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