RES hosts another edition of their periodic digital screenings Tuesday night in LA. Included: the West Coast premiere of Chris Cunningham's new short film Rubber Johnny, as well as new music videos for Basement Jaxx, Quasimoto, Aesop Rock, Amon Tobin and more. Cunningham is a brilliant filmmaker. He directed my absolute favorite music video of all time — All is Full of Love, for Björk. The video featured a milk-white tableau of dreamy android love; some believe it was ripped off wholesale to create the look and feel of robots in the movie I, Robot. Here's a synopsis of the film debuting tomorrow.
Johnny is a hyperactive, shape-shifting mutant child, kept locked away in a basement. With only his feverish imagination and his terrified dog for company, he finds ways to amuse himself in the dark.
Rubber Johnny is the latest creation from the UK's most imaginative filmmaker, Chris Cunningham. Featuring music by legendary electronic composer, Aphex Twin, this nightmarish and hallucinatory experimental short film is accompanied by 40 pages of drawings and photographs – Cunningham's first published book of original artwork.
Link to more info. Link to tickets. Large screenshots from Rubber Johnny: one, two.
Readers comment: Sean M. Graham says:
As if Chris Cunningham isn't cool enough, Warp Films (sister to Warp Records) is going to be releasing Rubber Johnny on DVD and also on their bleep.com digital download site… Apparently it will be "archive quality XVID" video.
Link, scroll down a bit to find the info.
Boing Boing's esteemed patron Yoda Kevin Kelly says,
Clayton James Cubitt says,
Did you know that Cunningham began as a special effects artist, and that he worked with Stanley Kubrick on making robotic children for the film AI?
See item #15 in this Kubrick FAQ for more on that.
Paul says:
Cunningham started as a special effects/concept illustration artist and then went to work for British comic company 2000AD. This led him back to film as he worked on the disappointing Judge Dredd flick. However he's responsible for the only two good bits of that film – Hammerstein / The ABC Warrior and Mean Machine. More info is available here.
Boing Boing reader Greg adds,
There is an official site for Rubber Johnny. Not much is notable for it except for a somewhat creepy trailer. Also, you might be interested to know that the DVD release was pushed back because the original printers in Italy deemed the material "too offensive": Link.
And Boing Boing Reader Justin says:
I thought non-Brit readers might like to know that "rubber johnny" is a playground/school yard slang for a condom. Hee hee.
