High Maintenance (Phillip Van, 2006)

High Maintenance (Phillip Van, 2006) takes place in a not too distant future, where a wife gets into a domestic dispute with her android husband, who doesn’t wish to celebrate their anniversary the way she intends, making her take matters into her own hands.

The film all takes place in one room, so uses close ups to show the conversation between these two people. This brings our attention to their robotic expressions and dialogue, as they have no emotion or compassion in their voice, just saying sentimental words without any emotion behind them. This dystopian sci-fi concept is only kept restricted to how it operates within this boring relationship,and the twist that both people are androids who are both easily replaceable shows the grim nature of this fictional scenario. It uses a real format of a failing marriage but incorporates a fictional sci-fi twist to make it more interesting and imagine how these aspects would fuse together in real life. This interesting fantasy scenario implemented into a realistic one is an interesting way of telling a story, and is an aspect that I may involve in my own short film.

I also liked the moment when the wife shuts off her husband, as a close up on the back of his neck shows slowly tracks her hand movements to show that she is reaching for a miniature switch on the back of his neck. This sudden reveal makes the moment more shocking and entertaining, and this and the sequence afterwards of her buying a new husband shows the dark future of this short film. I also remember the shot where the camera dolly’s out off the room as it shows the wife at her computer telling the robotics company what she wants out of her new husband. This movement away emphasises her isolation and the inhumanity of what she is doing. This and the extreme close up of her face as she eyes her new android with an entranced, obsessed look are both shots that I like, as her obsession with this fake person emphasises the dystopian concept, and it brings our attention to her obsession. The clever use of repeated dialogue from both of the robot husbands also shows their lack of humanity, and signals that something sinister is happening without the use of music to show this.