Smile

May 8, 2004 9:06 PM

Smile!
Looks like somebody's got a case of the Mondays!
posted by Voivod (46 comments total)

Grim.
posted by inksyndicate at 9:23 PM on May 8, 2004

The disco ball at the end saved it.
posted by Space Coyote at 9:23 PM on May 8, 2004

phleh
posted by rxrfrx at 9:23 PM on May 8, 2004

horrible
posted by zia at 9:33 PM on May 8, 2004

I knew somebody'd make a movie about me eventually.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 9:59 PM on May 8, 2004

After watching it, and reading the raving comments claiming it's brilliancy, I can't help but think of the artsy coffee houses I used to frequent. There was always one certain group of people in these joints, the misunderstood dark artist (who was seriously undertalented and laughably 'deep') and his group of Gothy yes-men. Every once in awhile they'd tell each other how genius and original they all were, and somehow forget there was a group exactly like them across the street in the other artsy coffee house.

Yeah that blew.
posted by Stan Chin at 9:59 PM on May 8, 2004

Blew? Oh, come on.

It does a fairly good job of capturing a mood and telling a story. It may not be a mood or story you appreciate, and I'm not sure about the orgy at the end. Still, it has a point of view and it communicates it well. That's way more than I can say for most of the stuff I run across each day.
posted by willnot at 10:26 PM on May 8, 2004

willnot: I agree. I'm reminded a bit of "Lost in Translation" which I thought good in its mood, art direction and story-telling, though not terribly deep in its message. A few people I know did sound a bit like that message board, though.

Oh, and Lost in Translation specifically doesn't end in an orgy, dammit!
posted by speedo at 10:36 PM on May 8, 2004

If Flash had have existed when I was 13, I would have made that, instead of, you know, putting my TRS-80 through its 16k RAM green-and-black paces.

Just because it's art for (and I must assume by) teenagers doesn't mean it sucks. In that context, it's pretty snazzy.

Of course, if someone over the age of 18 made it, well, that's a whole other thing, maybe.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:58 PM on May 8, 2004

You know what this reminded me of? The vastly superior "More" by Mark Osborne. Now that's a haunting short film, with mesmerizing visuals and a message that makes sense.
posted by Fofer at 11:21 PM on May 8, 2004

You know what this reminded me of? The vastly superior "More" by Mark Osborne.

Thanks for that link.
posted by kickingtheground at 11:28 PM on May 8, 2004

<Office Space>
Peter: “When you come in on Monday and you're not feeling real well does anyone ever say to you ‘sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays’?”
Laurence: “Shit no man, I believe you'd get your ass kicked saying something like that, man.”
</Office Space>
posted by snarfodox at 11:33 PM on May 8, 2004

Reminded me a bit of More, too, Fofer.

More does indeed rock. Made me tear up a bit, even.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:43 PM on May 8, 2004

It is good Dystopia for such a brief clip it gets a lot of vision across.
posted by stbalbach at 12:02 AM on May 9, 2004

Fofer -

Thanks for the "More" link - I had forgotten about it...
posted by iamck at 1:38 AM on May 9, 2004

A bit angst ridden for my tastes perhaps because I don't wear black nail polish.
The post did produce the "More" link which I was not aware of. Whipping out my credit card to buy it now...

Thanks!
posted by fluffycreature at 1:46 AM on May 9, 2004

: (
posted by blahblah at 3:18 AM on May 9, 2004

That's the most pretentious thing I've ever seen, and I live across the river from Cambridge, Mass.
posted by Mayor Curley at 8:30 AM on May 9, 2004

I didn't fit in in high school either, but you don't see me crapping out flash movies about it.
posted by patgas at 9:07 AM on May 9, 2004

The disco ball at the end and the animation style make it pretty clear the creator doesn't want it to be taken too seriously. I thought it was funny, like being able to view the half sleeping nightmare of someone in the middle of a hellish meeting.

Anyway, it's my first submission after years of mostly lurking so I'm just glad the link worked and I didn't end up in MetaTalk. :-)
posted by Voivod at 9:24 AM on May 9, 2004

i suspect all the negative responses reveal something about the respondents.
posted by quonsar at 9:26 AM on May 9, 2004

"More" was used as the video for Kenna's "Hellbent." Kind of a shame... they just took out the excellent, well-suited New Order music and slapped in their song, which didn't fit the pacing of the movie as well.
posted by rxrfrx at 9:28 AM on May 9, 2004

I thought Smile was good. Not everything has to A) be deep, B) make total sense, C) be Oscar-worthy. It was well-done, with a great mood and made me ask interesting questions -- questions I thought were interesting anyway. I'm pretty sure the creator isn't an angst ridden teen -- his profile declares him to be a 20 year old guy in Poland.
posted by o2b at 9:53 AM on May 9, 2004

Now I feel all angsty 'n stuff for no reason at all. Thanks a lot!

(jerk)

(not really)

(jj)
posted by shepd at 9:54 AM on May 9, 2004

the disco ball at the end ruined it for me.
posted by tomplus2 at 9:55 AM on May 9, 2004

i suspect all the negative responses reveal something about the respondents.

Perhaps, quonsar. But, on the other hand, what if it actually does suck?
posted by argybarg at 10:11 AM on May 9, 2004

Who cares about the discoball, the best part was the smiley face blowjob going down...
posted by afx114 at 10:16 AM on May 9, 2004

That's funny. The coffee houses that I used to frequent always had a group of uber-cynical hipsters, who were always trying to out-cool each other by finding new things to cap on instead of, you know, doing anything creative themselves. It's just easier, and besides, you wouldn't want to risk making something that could get you ripped apart in public by the alpha hep.

I liked it. But then, I like Showgirls, so who am I to say.
posted by majcher at 10:54 AM on May 9, 2004

I liked it. But then, I like Showgirls, so who am I to say.


Showgirls was excellent. This is crap.
posted by rxrfrx at 10:59 AM on May 9, 2004

BRILLIANT.
posted by Shane at 11:06 AM on May 9, 2004

I'm pretty sure the creator isn't an angst ridden teen -- his profile declares him to be a 20 year old guy in Poland.

20 is only just technically not a teenager anymore. In the US you're still too young to drink... It wasn't brilliant, but I didn't think it was terrible - the mood reminded me a bit of solaris, actually. Although their were clearly elements that were similar to More (and thanks for reminding me of that, too), I think the mood was a bit different - More was kind of melancholy, whereas this seemed to be going for a kind of sartrean nausea, or something. Yeah, sure, pretentious, not particularly deep - but in a way, isn't the point these days that nothing is "deep", that depth isn't even something to strive for? I guess if anything we strive for complexity, multi-facetedness.

Anyway,basically just agreeing with majcher that it's easy to be critical and the pretentious kids in coffee shops are often more concerned about the failures of others than their own successes. While we tend to overindulge our angst as teenagers, I'm not sure that means we should immediately dismiss all angstiness once we graduate from that phase. On the other hand, I still like the smiths, so... (but there is something about seriousness that doesn't take itself too seriously that really captures something true...)
posted by mdn at 12:29 PM on May 9, 2004

It's not a patch on "More," by any means, but for a kid with a copy of Flash it's pretty damn good.
posted by kindall at 12:34 PM on May 9, 2004

I liked it.
posted by LittleMissCranky at 1:48 PM on May 9, 2004

more than i've ever done.
posted by Hackworth at 2:10 PM on May 9, 2004

i just dont know what to say in the prescence of a genious...
posted by moonbiter at 5:23 PM on May 9, 2004

Oh, as a display of Flash talent, it's damn good. Some of the expressions on the smiley faces were impressively nuanced (impressive for animation) and the overall "mood" was striking. He accomplished quite a bit despite the inherent constraints of Flash. It's somewhat of a compliment that we're all just taking that part for granted, and assessing the short film on it's artful merits (or lack thereof.)

That said, for a 20-year-old ([nitpick] technically, just one year out of his "teens" [/nitpick]) his work is good!

(...but "More" is better.)

Smile!
posted by Fofer at 5:46 PM on May 9, 2004

Meh on the ending - it would be fine if it were a non-sequitur type ending ("and now, dancing!"), but the angles get all weird and stuff and it's hard to tell what's happening. And not in a "breakdown to chaos" way, just a hard to discern way. I hate this thing.
posted by abcde at 8:04 PM on May 9, 2004

Some very nice production values and imagery, but adolescent of spirit and vision. This creator may go on to mature into a great voice.
posted by squirrel at 10:00 PM on May 9, 2004

The comments in this thread are pretty harsh, I must say. Are you people evaluating the artwork, or the artist and their supposed motives?

I viewed the Flash without reading any of the linked site's content. I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it was very well done. The imagery and music really impacted me; I actually felt bad for the guy being murdered, slowly, for not smiling. Walking in, lacking any preconceptions or knowledge of the author and his work, I thought it was a very good piece.

Looking at it, in conjunction with this thread, I actually do see brilliance. All of the "this is depressing teenage crap" comments almost echo the button-pushers and their non-acceptance of the gloomy fellow. Each snide remark made towards the author reflecting a nail through the author (gloomy fellow). The orgy in the end, seems to be represented by the anti-angst-art feelings being passed back and forth in this thread.

I'm not slamming anyone; you're free to dislike whatever you like on whatever grounds you all see fit. I just think it was a very well crafted piece of imagery, and it was a lot more intelligent -- especially in unintended foresight -- than most seem to think.

This is good.
posted by Dark Messiah at 10:04 PM on May 9, 2004

I really don't understand all the "high school" comments. High school doesn't end in high school, at least not where I live. Adults are all the more confused, and so they cling all the more to their systems of competition and conformity now that they don't have these systems established in the culture of high school. It just all takes the form of jobs and incomes and promotions and large houses and SUVs and clothes. Yet they're really clueless about life, and resent the person who questions their facade. They still try to pound down the nails that stick up, sometimes even more violently than when they were young, as they are all the more lost and afraid now.

You can write this off as teen angst, but it still struck a chord with me, and I'm long past my teens. Of course, nobody pounds me down ;-)
posted by Shane at 6:46 AM on May 10, 2004

All of the responces reveal something about the respondents, quonsar. That's a rather obvious observation for you. Your implied dismissal of those who disliked the video on the grounds that they're revealing something about themselves reveals somehting about you, (e.g. that you're intellectually lazy.)

I want to reiterate that I truly enjoyed the visuals and, in some nostalgic way, the message of "Smile." Still, Dark Messiah and Shane should accept that the emotional landscape of this piece is viewed by some here as relatively shallow; that the ideas (specifically that "They" are forever trying to break "Us" down and make us "conform") are rudimentary.

Most people have these feelings in this form during adolesence and then go on to revise the same issues in more emotionally complex ways as they get older. Heck, I watched "The Wall" almost a hundred times between the ages of 18 and 21. It spoke to me then very differently then than it does now. It shouldn't say anything bad about me that I have matured, should it?

As for those who merely snarked, well, fuck 'em.
posted by squirrel at 10:13 AM on May 10, 2004

For an amateur Flash production by one guy, it was pretty damn good, if you ask me. Obviously "More" was far superior and more accomplished, but this is a rather well-directed short for a guy who's taking the piss on DeviantArt. I say more power to him.

(I also find irony in the negative responses here, especially in light of majcher's comment.)
posted by Down10 at 10:48 AM on May 10, 2004

They still try to pound down the nails that stick up, sometimes even more violently than when they were young, as they are all the more lost and afraid now.

You must know very different adults than I do. The best thing about high school is how when it's over, it's over. You never have to deal with any of that crap again. Random adults do not trip you as you pass, nor do they spit on you or throw your lunch on the floor or repeatedly punch you in the arm just to see how much you'll take. Real life (hell, even college) is refreshingly free of abuse.
posted by kindall at 10:48 AM on May 10, 2004

shit no, I beleive you get your ass kicked for sayin' something like that.
posted by omidius at 11:54 AM on May 10, 2004

Still, Dark Messiah and Shane should accept that the emotional landscape of this piece is viewed by some here as relatively shallow; that the ideas (specifically that "They" are forever trying to break "Us" down and make us "conform") are rudimentary.

It's just a flash movie... Most music is made with the same rudimentary chords; that doesn't neccessarily make it shallow.

I just see the same supposed coffee-house elitism being applied to the very people who indulge in it in the first place. Two wrongs don't make a right, and all that jazz.

Dislike the work, not the worker, nor the intent you've tacked on yourself.
posted by Dark Messiah at 6:04 PM on May 10, 2004

I've tried to make it clear that I dislike neither the work nor the worker. I said in my first comment that although this work is limited in vision, I see the artist as promising.

The intent I've tacked on, myself? You mean interpretation. Well, it should be clear by now that we have different interpretations. I don't see what this is such a problem... why one of us must be wrong.

We view this little movie differently. I'm sure we see a lot of things the same.
posted by squirrel at 9:13 PM on May 10, 2004