Valibation

March 2, 2013 6:20 PM

Valibation: It isn't in you, it is you. NSFW short film in which a man's addiction to his smartphone gets a bit out of hand. [Via]
posted by homunculus (27 comments total)

I tried really hard to stay off my phone for the whole video, but come on, it's 20 minutes long.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 6:48 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure I can finish this. GOD HE'S JUST SO CREEPY.
posted by FirstMateKate at 6:53 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

Oh this is exactly the kind of disturbing body horror I simply CANNOT handle. Pay attention to the tags, people! "BodyHorror" is accurate. Seven minutes in and I clicked forward to a few different places to see if it ever got less distressing and it didn't. At all.
posted by Mizu at 7:04 PM on March 2, 2013

Behind the scenes
posted by homunculus at 7:08 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

Also see http://vimeo.com/7338960 , linked to in the comments.
posted by Yowser at 7:11 PM on March 2, 2013

I saw the toes of the lady in the shoe store and I was already grossed out.
posted by arcticseal at 7:22 PM on March 2, 2013

There's nothing here more disturbing than something in a Saw movie. I look forward to the forthcoming straight-to-DVD full-length zombie film.
posted by timfinnie at 7:30 PM on March 2, 2013

There's nothing here more disturbing than something in a Saw movie.

It reminded me of Videodrome.
posted by homunculus at 7:33 PM on March 2, 2013

timfinnie: "There's nothing here more disturbing than something in a Saw movie."

Sometimes I'm really, really glad I read the comments before clicking through on the links.

Or instead of.
posted by Lexica at 8:02 PM on March 2, 2013 [1 favorite]

It reminded me of Naked Lunch for some reason; then I noticed that the main character was watching The Fly on TV, which definitely puts this in the category of Cronenburg homage.
posted by Yowser at 8:11 PM on March 2, 2013

Sometimes I'm really, really glad I read the comments before clicking through on the links.

OK now, Saw is over the top. Sorry. There are no pretend-people getting pretend-killed here. Just a bit of very light gore. Sorry.

I do appreciate the focus of the film. If you can make it past a bit of gross feet and a deformed hand (with a scant bit of blood) you'll be fine. It's a good watch.

Again, apologies for the Saw reference.
posted by timfinnie at 8:12 PM on March 2, 2013

Very good. No tortue porn.
posted by dfriedman at 8:16 PM on March 2, 2013

I am a bit distressed what they do with Gene Kelly, though....
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:25 PM on March 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

I saw the toes of the lady in the shoe store and I was already grossed out.

Ah, but the toes are so important, how else to demonstrate the dangers of always posturing?

Also, Go Blazers!
posted by charlemangy at 9:46 PM on March 2, 2013

Ick.
posted by SPrintF at 10:06 PM on March 2, 2013

This is not in me. But it's near enough me that I am both appalled (and unfortunately could have been one time aroused) that I appreciate the auteur's view. Thanks to homunculus.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:16 PM on March 2, 2013

I...watched the whole thing on my phone.
posted by juv3nal at 11:32 PM on March 2, 2013 [7 favorites]

Fuck.Yes.
posted by mannequito at 12:06 AM on March 3, 2013

Tangentially related: the evening of the day I bought my first cellphone with vibrate alert, I was watching Cronenberg's THE FLY, in the dark, lying on the sofa. About a foot away from my head was the phone, on the coffee table. Just at that certain Brundlefly point in the movie, it started vibrating.

I jumped THIS HIGH.
posted by Prince Lazy I at 1:24 AM on March 3, 2013 [2 favorites]

*Shares on facebook, waits for likes*
posted by knapah at 6:00 AM on March 3, 2013 [2 favorites]

please favorite this. i really, really need it.
posted by orme at 6:09 AM on March 3, 2013 [4 favorites]

Wait, so people generally DON'T wish they could magically become an awesome cyborg?

Huh.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:25 AM on March 3, 2013

The ending was not the trite moralistic one I expected, given the hints earlier in the film about how phones have taken the place of genuine connection with others and self-knowledge. That was really good.
posted by voltairemodern at 7:56 AM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

I didn't mind the body horror. That was meh. What really, really creeped me out was him laying on his bed, his face void of any expression and his body slack with apathy while simultaneously txting sexy things.
You're supposed to LIKE sex. At least give a smile, or something. What he was doing was just so...unhuman. And then the next scene in the creepy, dingy shoe store with the old lady feet and him talking bluntly about how evolution means he just can't help what his dick does when you have those shoes on.

NO THX
posted by FirstMateKate at 8:21 AM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

I suppose the Metafilter equivalent would be an IRL booty call post.

HELLO SEXY WHAT U DOIN? 23 attending. 8 maybe.
posted by zippy at 11:18 AM on March 3, 2013

Ha, just got around to watching this. That was totally awesome.
posted by XMLicious at 10:37 PM on March 3, 2013

At the end, as we see his newly refreshed life, he has a tablet that goes dark just as the camera turns towards him. Not sure what to make of it, but it's a subtle touch.
posted by Yowser at 11:37 PM on March 3, 2013