Suddenly it becomes apparent that human existence is a facade; Earth is nothing more than a deranged, alien playground. This trendy sci-fi environment is the world visited in Peter Ricq's animated short film Glitch.
The film was featured at The Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda on Thursday, March 27, as part of the ongoing 2008 Buffalo International Film Festival. It was one of eight other nominees in the "Animation" category that will be shown throughout the Festival's duration.
Glitch follows George, a man whose reality falls away before his eyes. He finds himself confronted with a strange robotic perversion of his previous life. People are hosts to mysterious little aliens, and he is being hunted by menacing, gun-toting hit men.
The story was reminiscent of The Matrix or something from The Twilight Zone. Had it been a live action film, the story similarities might have detracted from the experience, but its unique style pulled everything together.
The film was beautifully animated, both from a technical and stylistic point of view, and had a crisp and developed sense of cohesion.
The small cyclops-like aliens, odd shaped buildings and futuristic technology all demonstrated Ricq's quirky style. Every scene came together naturally.
On that note, the music was another strong point of the film. It was just as quirky and stylized as the animation, with a lot of simple synth and driving bass to keep the setting and pace.
It was short and intense, being only ten minutes long, and felt almost like an extended Gorillaz music video, due to the similar animation style and presence of interesting music throughout.
"I enjoy a lot of different types of art," claims Ricq. "[I] try to explore as many styles as possible. I don't want to be remembered as that 'guy' that does that one character all the time, even though it is a great marketing strategy."
Ricq's sentiment of maintaining artistic integrity despite financial sacrifices is an admirable one. It's something one hears frequently at an independent film festival, where individual artistic vision is what the whole thing is really about.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
