Posted on 07/23/2008
Electroma is Daft Punk’s feature-length directing debut, centered around two robot characters derived from the masks that Bangalter and de Homem-Christo are known to wear during public appearances. The film’s pacing is exceedingly slow, and the plot exceptionally minimal, to the extent that the meaning or purpose of the project cannot possibly be narrative in nature. Daft Punk’s music isn’t featured in the film, either, further distancing the audience from any conventional point they might have expected the group to make. Instead, the film is probably best approached as visual and aural candy, vague ideas used to propel an experiment that can be taken at face value. At best, it results in interesting moments and pretty pictures. At worst, it comes across as dull and slightly self-indulgent. What makes it work is that the vagueness seems intentional, but, at the same time, this vagueness could be seen as a kind of cop out, a way to dismiss any potential criticism by countering that the film wasn’t meant to be strictly defined in the first place.

The plot involves the two robots driving through the desert. In their world, being a robot appears to be the normal state. They attempt to don the affect of a human appearance, but it fails to take. On foot, the robots re-enter the desert landscape. A sense of despondency eventually overtakes the robots, leading to a final climactic sequence. The soundtrack alternates between empty spaces and songs by artists such as Todd Rundgren and Curtis Mayfield, which can be thought to mirror the long, empty stretches of desert and the occasional events that happen to our heroes within it.

It is not that any of these ideas are bad, per se, but it feels like an over-extended promotional video posing as a feature film. The robots are seen wearing jackets with the Daft Punk logo emblazoned on them; the camera even consciously emphasizes this logo at one point. In every other way, the film’s world is completely disconnected from Daft Punk as a musical act, so it feels somewhat contradictory to suddenly throw in this reminder, to insert the real world into this fictional fantasy. It assumes the audience will already know who they are, suggesting that the film’s meaning or purpose is at least partially derived from Daft Punk having made it.

Scenes drag on to an excessive extent ---we do not gain any further emotional, intellectual, or aesthetic insights during the tenth minute of watching the robots walk that we did not already possess during the seventh. Electroma has very beautifully cinematography, demonstrating a good visual sense, but the construction feels sprawling and uncontrolled, like a desire to be experimental that doesn’t necessarily reflect a mastery of the basics. Such a free approach probably works better for shorter pieces, like music videos, where time limits force a more judicious editing style and where the music may determine the form to some degree.

Electroma is probably best for Daft Punk fans and the curious. Some will enjoy it more than others.

- Justin Deremo