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Film Review: Radio Free Albemuth

Last night, the world premiere of Radio Free Albemuth took place at the Gotham Screen International Film Festival. The film, directed by John Alan Simon, is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's sci-fi novel of the same name. The setting is a fascist alternative universe that resembles an American 1985. Phil (Shea Wigham) experiences messages sent directly into his brain via purple bursts of light from an earth-orbiting satellite controlled by aliens on another planet. Still following? These messages are illustrated as retro low budget CGI animations (150 CGI shots in film). The shift between reality (in the parallel universe, that is) and the hallucinations is reminiscent of Howl with an Across the Universe feeling of an acid trip.
When Phil and Nicholas are thrown in prison, the film takes a Clockwork Orange turn, as we learn about the brutal fascism ideals that are held by the Nazi youth reminiscent guards.
Robyn Hitchcock's score woks amazingly well with the film's dark quirky feel.
Performances by Jonathan Scarfe and Shea Whigam allow the audience to connect with the human relations as the characters deal with a literally alien situation. Despite some bad editing in the first half of the film, a sub par performance by Katheryn Winnick, and some too-cheesy camera effects and dialogue, the film manages to captivate the viewer.
If you're a sci-fi buff or a fan of Philip K. Dick, then this is for you. If you're afraid of the film being "too indie", then you'll probably think it is.

GSIFF Film Festival

GSIFF 2010 from Triboro Pictures on Vimeo.

The Gotham Screen International Film Festival kicks off today and runs through the 17th of October. The festival screenings take place mainly in the TriBeCa (still not sure about the weird capitalization) Cinemas, and a full schedule can be found here.
Tonight, the festival will open with the world premiere of Radio Free Albemuth, which looks like it will be very good, despite being too much science-fiction for mainstream.