As you may have guessed by now I feel a certain affinity for the Germans. Most of the films I own are from the said country and I am always searching for something new to watch to add to my ever growing collection. I purchased 'Egoshooter' from German Amazon about a month ago but we hadn't got around to watching it until last night.
Starring rising star Tom Schilling 'Egoshooter' is one of the more individual films I have seen in recent times. Taking into concern the contemporary upsurge in amateur video sites such as YouTube together with the social networking websites that have made everybody famous for 15 minutes the film splices together small, apparently amateurishly shot snippets of narrative to assess current social concerns.
Jakob is 19, living in Cologne and wasting his life; he documents every tedious aspect of that wasted life on video-camera. Everything: from not being able to sleep, riding a bike, begging, masturbating, eating breakfast, listening to music, together with his dysfunctional family and friends.
In a society that will watch Big Brother contestants sleeping on a live stream or readily view homemade videos of people doing almost anything at anytime, anywhere 'Egoshooter' is cleverly apt to our times and is of course on the surface a mediocre film of nothingness, but that's the point. We are all bored and as this very blog confirms we strive to document the tedious minutiae of life.
The film is alarmingly easy to watch yet at the same time a slightly uncomfortable experience, after all we are watching Jakob in the most intimate and emotionally private moments but the internet has made such occurrences normality. The film apes us all and is well worth watching if only to look into the mirror that is being held-up to society. This experimental blend of fragmentary documentation is refreshingly honest but you must surrender yourself as viewer to get the most out of it, if you come expecting a storyline, you are missing the point.
If you have a spare 79 minutes and an extra twenty quid burning a hole in your pocket why don't you try Egoshooter? Perfect viewing for late at night or early in the morning when suffering a hangover thus not really wanting to think.
Starring rising star Tom Schilling 'Egoshooter' is one of the more individual films I have seen in recent times. Taking into concern the contemporary upsurge in amateur video sites such as YouTube together with the social networking websites that have made everybody famous for 15 minutes the film splices together small, apparently amateurishly shot snippets of narrative to assess current social concerns.
Jakob is 19, living in Cologne and wasting his life; he documents every tedious aspect of that wasted life on video-camera. Everything: from not being able to sleep, riding a bike, begging, masturbating, eating breakfast, listening to music, together with his dysfunctional family and friends.
In a society that will watch Big Brother contestants sleeping on a live stream or readily view homemade videos of people doing almost anything at anytime, anywhere 'Egoshooter' is cleverly apt to our times and is of course on the surface a mediocre film of nothingness, but that's the point. We are all bored and as this very blog confirms we strive to document the tedious minutiae of life.
The film is alarmingly easy to watch yet at the same time a slightly uncomfortable experience, after all we are watching Jakob in the most intimate and emotionally private moments but the internet has made such occurrences normality. The film apes us all and is well worth watching if only to look into the mirror that is being held-up to society. This experimental blend of fragmentary documentation is refreshingly honest but you must surrender yourself as viewer to get the most out of it, if you come expecting a storyline, you are missing the point.
If you have a spare 79 minutes and an extra twenty quid burning a hole in your pocket why don't you try Egoshooter? Perfect viewing for late at night or early in the morning when suffering a hangover thus not really wanting to think.
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