The Cube

The existential crisis of a man trapped in a cube. Switches constantly between deeply thoughtful and intellectual to humourous and silly to dark and disturbing. Top class mindfuckery.

The only faults come from dated technology, but this is top-notch surrealism and a wickedly dark comedy from one of the most creative minds in the business. I would recommend this to anyone.

Watched this one again after 3 years. And again it blew my mind. Minimal setting, crappy acting and yet it seems to capture the very essence of living in the modern world, asking the eternal questions and searching for the meaning of it all.

An intriguing (and influential) idea hurt by clear budgetary restraints and a tendency towards an episodic "revue" format, which saps some of the dramatic momentum; this really needed to be more aggressively claustrophobic to be properly successful. Pantomime style performances from the different visitors are offset somewhat by Schaal's effectively dogged portrait of the "prisoner". Perhaps most notable and interesting as an offbeat entry into the Henson canon.

Feels a lot like a stage play, although a lot of it could only be done on (low-tech) film. I would say it is less like Buñuel, and more like Samuel Beckett meets Terry Gilliam. Oh, I forgot to mention Kafka. And Henson. Really Hensonesque, this one.

Very interesting, inventive and amusing teleplay on existential themes, and that is in a way a variation on the theme of THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL. A fairly high-quality version available at: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3907143513685066286

DOX REALM

A dark, witty, Kafka-esque teleplay gem. Not to be confused with the B-movie cult horror, Cube; although the premises of both aren't that far separated (albeit very different approaches). Contrary to what you'd expect with Henson, not a puppet in sight, but it's no less silly for lack of them. It wouldn't be out of place in an episode of Monty Python... although there is a sense of consistency found here that the latter often lacks, and its existential themes feel more deliberate.

Pretty much sums up my life. Except that I have more gadgets and considerably fewer people.

[Distant]