This is a fine little film that is probably going to be most appealing to technically-minded, entrepreneurial viewers. It tells the story of a group of "techies" who are working on an invention; from the outset, the nature of which machine is not clear to the viewer.
Eventually, two of the group, Abe and Aaron, create a machine which does ... what? They don't know, exactly. The course of the film traces their increasingly complex attempts to work out what the machine does and how they can take advantage of it. Like many technical people, they become more involved in the experiment than in the outcome.
The film excels in portraying the complex, excitable and intense interactions of a team of intelligent, well-educated technically-minded individuals trying to get out of the "cube farm" and into their own business by inventing a new technology. It uses a cinema verite style that fits the subject matter and the action.
As a technical person myself, I immediately understood the nature of the drama and the intensity with which the would-be inventors approached their project. The pattern on which the inventive process is based here, is the pattern followed by almost all great technical inventions in electronics of the past 60 years, from the first printers by Hewlett-Packard to the DOS operating system made famous by Microsoft.
The film gets increasingly hard to follow, as the inventors get increasingly confused about what exactly is happening to them and to the people around them. It's no easier on the viewer. In a way, this is a logical progression; but ultimately, I felt it detracted from the film's effectiveness. As a viewer, I would have liked to have had a clearer conception of what it was that the protagonists were not understanding. Still, I can't rule out that the direction was intentional and that we, the viewers, were intended to be as unsure of the reality as the protagonists ultimately were.
But, all in all, for me, a fun film to watch throughout.
Eventually, two of the group, Abe and Aaron, create a machine which does ... what? They don't know, exactly. The course of the film traces their increasingly complex attempts to work out what the machine does and how they can take advantage of it. Like many technical people, they become more involved in the experiment than in the outcome.
The film excels in portraying the complex, excitable and intense interactions of a team of intelligent, well-educated technically-minded individuals trying to get out of the "cube farm" and into their own business by inventing a new technology. It uses a cinema verite style that fits the subject matter and the action.
As a technical person myself, I immediately understood the nature of the drama and the intensity with which the would-be inventors approached their project. The pattern on which the inventive process is based here, is the pattern followed by almost all great technical inventions in electronics of the past 60 years, from the first printers by Hewlett-Packard to the DOS operating system made famous by Microsoft.
The film gets increasingly hard to follow, as the inventors get increasingly confused about what exactly is happening to them and to the people around them. It's no easier on the viewer. In a way, this is a logical progression; but ultimately, I felt it detracted from the film's effectiveness. As a viewer, I would have liked to have had a clearer conception of what it was that the protagonists were not understanding. Still, I can't rule out that the direction was intentional and that we, the viewers, were intended to be as unsure of the reality as the protagonists ultimately were.
But, all in all, for me, a fun film to watch throughout.