Hallucinations is a film by M. Wild that will be playing at the 2022 United States Super 8 Film and Digital Video Festival on Saturday, February 19, 2022. It begins with a dreamscape and a narrator who seems to believe themselves to be at one with the stars in space; at one with the atmosphere. The first character that is introduced to us is Ava Gastpunkt who appears to be a well-known photographer. She comes up periodically in the film after this moment, but what is important to note about this introduction is that the film is establishing the role of photographer as a particularly important one in the world of this film. It seems that Wild is interested in perspective, and the parameters thereof, where the camera is a particular tool that we use to make perspective into something tangible.
The film is a series of hallucinations strung together to tell a story. Each scene features a set of characters that are interacting with each other to help one another navigate the parameters of the world they find themselves living in. At least one of each set of new characters introduced has some sort of supernatural quality to them that drives the plot forward. The peculiar part about that is the way plot is getting driven forward, and the specifics of what exactly is happening in the world of Hallucinations is [strategically] not particularly clear. One thing that can be agreed upon across the board, though, seems to be the idea that “aliens are coming.” It is up to the viewer to decide, based on what they are being presented with visually, what exactly that means to them [each character might very well be their own alien].
One character that seems to be pretty important in this film is Richard Max who is introduced to us by way of an interview. He is asked by a reporter “what does it feel like to be the biggest celebrity?” which is a peculiar question; it feels incomplete. One is left to wonder where he is the biggest celebrity; his country or continent? The world? What does he do that makes him the biggest celebrity? This universal acceptance of one man as all encompassing of a concept that is so lucrative, like that of celebrity, forces the viewer to question the humanity of the people in this film. It feels unnatural for an entire species to regard one of its members as higher than all, without any distinctions.
Although what’s described above seems peculiar, as there is so much information missing, the concept of uncertainty is what actually ties these characters together. There is a magic in that uncertainty that drives the film forward, forcing the viewer to want to reach some [any] sort of conclusion. The way the lives of each separate character bleed together in the film, although they do not appear to be connected in any logical way, is confusing in a most purposeful way.
I really don’t know what this film is about, but for some reason I’ve left the screening with a deeper understanding of my own experience. It was in the scene where two of the characters were recorded howling at the moon over and over again that I realized what it looks like for the modern human, who lives in a developed society, to be burdened by [now] infinite access to the experiences of another. The film itself seems to regard our ability to use our cameras to capture life’s moments, and hold possession of them in “the cloud,” as one not short of magic. It is a film where we do not know if any of the information that is being presented to us is real or imagined and instead are led to question everything.
Here is the 2022 New Jersey Film Festival/United States Super 8 Film + DV Festival Filmmaker Q+A with Hallucinations Director Michael Wild, Actors Lary Muller and Sierra Erika Taylor along with Festival Director Al Nigrin.
Hallucinations will be playing Online for 24 hours on Saturday- February 19, 2022 as part of the 2022 United States Super 8 Film + DV Festival. For more information and to buy tickets go to this link.
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