Connecting People: Houston We Have a Problem: In Spain
Why does it always take a foreign film to bring a breath of fresh air into our American lungs? Well, this one took a minute and a bit of patience to finally get to watch and I am so grateful I did when I could! What a remarkable short film, a truthfully trite piece of reality from Spain. Director, Alvaro de la Hoz, takes Pedro Pablo Picazo's script and creates an effortless composition of irony, communication, and the paradoxes of our time. Actress Marta Hazas as "Her" delivers us her librarian-esque beauty with spectacles and all while Sergio Mur serves a lost in thought looker as "Him". DP, Iago Lopez sets up some amazing shots and is fully aware of how environment makes the shot more special than actors could ever add with words. The production company is called "Burbujas", which translates to bubbles, fitting for the bubbly-ness one feels inside after watching this. Carajo esta buenisimo! (Damn it's good!)
In the words of the immortal Dr. of Journalism, Hunter S. Thompson: "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Please first read below to understand why this quote exists here…
On my first round of trying to watch this amazingly well written and endearing short film that leaves one standing in awe of our times, I thought the video bit-rate was being quirky, that maybe Burbujas had uploaded it incorrectly, or that my connection wasn't holding fast, or even that the movie itself, so aptly named, Connecting People, had actually made that effect of lagging video speed and audio synch-slippage purposefully as in a tactful production gimmickry sense; but Oh no was I mistaken!
When I watched it a second time, (mind you I'm insistent and actually watched it completely like that accepting that it indeed was a gimmick) the video played half perfectly well and only choppy when it seemed fit within the scene and so I felt it an interesting ploy to toy with and accepted it. Suddenly, then it stopped playing, then it did but only in spurts, then not at all until I noticed that other people were on my WiFi connection so I was forced to change my password to regain my bandwidth… then, after having full signal strength I had Connecting People fully buffered and was about to sit and watch it again when lo and behold, what should naturally happen in Los Angeles this night? An earthquake, lights went out, things obviously shook and my friggin laptop turned off. As you see, I was convinced the movie just played unbearably bad intentionally and began to review it as was, and in this thought it absolute genius.
So the next day I watched this precious movie and was marveling as if over a rare jewel. It was a simple slice, a seven minute everyday chunk, a mouthful of a generational declaration in communication. Can you hear me in the back? Two people, "Him" and "Her", both heading in their respective directions trying to have a conversation on their mobiles while crossing through a narrow little park, wind up sitting on the same bench seemingly oblivious to each other and then… the signal dies and they both lose their calls. How perfect it all works as they describe their ideal mate, or their last lover and why they left them, or how they don't have one or critically gnashing at themselves with regret or longing… all this right before their connections get cut off.
What happens when there is no more facebook or chat rooms or email or cell phones? Will we be forced to communicate solely orally or through ESP or not at all? Not in this short film. There is definitely something, a look Him and Her share that tells us more with their eyes than any information in the script could've ever hoped to achieve. Don’t miss the ending, the last shot says it all. Without embellishment, hands down, one of my favorites on Openfilm thus far. I will watch anything these guys make whenever they make it. Check out their channel, they've not had enough exposure yet and they well deserve it. Who knows? You may want to take a Spanish class afterwards.
