MAN VS PHONE

There have been so many movies about fantastical robots and machines taking over our lives at some point in the future, but I hadn't seen a movie about the actual machines that have already taken over our lives in our present day reality. I'm referencing, of course, our phones and other "smart" devices which we're now using obsessively for most of our waking (and even non-waking) hours. Unlike in most sci-fi, they're not embodied in humanoid robot form and they're not trying to kill us. They're everywhere and in everything and they're always trying to help us. This means that we can't just shut them off or smash them up, and even if we could we wouldn't want to. Or, at least, it would be unwise to destroy them, because we'd be destroying our connection to distant family, friends, news, finances, entertainment, education, employment, etc. We'd be essentially destroying our connection to the rest of humanity. This was especially true during the Covid-19 lockdowns, but that phase in our society accelerated a cultural tendency toward an increasingly codependent relationship with our phones. It's a relationship that can't very easily be opted out of. It must be revolted against, but because it's so deeply embedded in our culture, revolting against the technology can often mean revolting against humanity and revolting against our natural human tendencies. And most of us are not revolutionaries anyway. It's much easier to just leave things as they are and let the phones (and the corporations & governments that control the phones) dictate the flow of our lives...

These thoughts inspired me to make MAN VS PHONE. But could a movie about someone's evolving relationship with their phone actually be watchable? Yes, it could. HER proved that it could. However, HER also involves other people and multiple locations. I didn't have the budget for all that. So, I saw the movies LOCKE and BURIED. They proved that an entertaining feature could be made with just one person in one loca...

There have been so many movies about fantastical robots and machines taking over our lives at some point in the future, but I hadn't seen a movie about the actual machines that have already taken over our lives in our present day reality. I'm referencing, of course, our phones and other "smart" devices which we're now using obsessively for most of our waking (and even non-waking) hours. Unlike in most sci-fi, they're not embodied in human form and they're not trying to kill us. They're everywhere and in everything and they're always trying to help us. This means that we can't just shut them off or smash them up, and even if we could we wouldn't want to. Or, at least, it would be unwise to destroy them, because we'd be destroying our connection to distant family, friends, news, finances, entertainment, education, employment, etc. We'd be essentially destroying our connection to the rest of humanity. This was especially true during the Covid-19 lockdowns, but that phase in our society accelerated a cultural tendency toward an increasingly codependent relationship with our phones. It's a relationship that can't very easily be opted out of. It must be revolted against, but because it's so deeply embedded in our culture, revolting against the technology can often mean revolting against humanity and revolting against our natural human tendencies. And most of us are not revolutionaries anyway. It's much easier to just leave things as they are and let the phones (and the corporations & governments that control the phones) dictate the flow of our lives...

It's these thoughts that inspired me to make MAN VS PHONE. But could a movie about someone's evolving relationship with their phone actually be watchable? Yes, it could. HER proved that it could. However, HER also involves other people and multiple locations. I didn't have the budget for all that. So, I saw the movies LOCKE and BURIED. They proved that an entertaining feature could be made with just one person in one lo...