Rubber Johnny by Chris Cunningham

[Canteloupe]

Rubber Johnny, a six-minute experimental short film cut to a soundtrack by Aphex Twin, remixed by Cunningham was shot between 2001 and 2004. Shot on DV night-vision, it was made in Cunningham's own time as a home movie of sorts, and took three and half years of weekends to complete.

Synopsis

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 UKs 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 - Cunninghams first published book of original artwork.

[Yarrow]

cunningham is nightmarish. much prefer michel gondry.

[dinsdale]

cunningham is nightmarish. much prefer michel gondry.

There does seem to be a nexus with Radiohead and with DirectorsLabel.com. The above film is a remarkable interpretation of the Aphex Twin piece. I don't particularly care for the beat-box rhythms that seem to be the hallmark of Aphex Twin and Autechre ambient music, but the video unmistakably captures that aspect of it to interesting effect. I prefer rather the beat be far more subtle and difficult to fathom, as in the forms Harold Budd has tended to follow. More drift.

[vaguelyhumanoid]

I think it's supposed to be nightmarish, and it succeeds.