REVIEW: Technotise: Edit & I

Technotise: Edit & I
Director: Aleksa Gajic, Nebojsa Andric, Stevan Djordjevic
Year 2009
 
Technotise: Edit & I, is a wonderfully ambitious animated Serbian science fiction film that has a great deal of depth and a ton of style. By blending future tech with a humanistic and personal story, the movie delves deep into what actually makes us human, bringing a more meaningful narrative that is chock full of some very interesting concepts. From start to finish, this film has a lot to say and the world that it has created in order to tell this story, is a vision to behold.
 
The general flow of the film follows a young psychology student living in Belgrade in the year 2074 named Edit, who has recently been having trouble passing her tests. Frustrated with numerous failed exams, Edit decides to have a memory chip implanted in her that would allow her to retain more information, resulting in her being able to finally make the grade. Unfortunately, not everything goes as planned, for the implant mysteriously begins to awaken something inside her and Edit begins to experience strange visions added by a new heightened sense of abilities. What is happening to her and can she fight the ever consuming feeling that she is changing into someone else entirely? A science fiction film for the ages, the movie tackles the embedded fear that man has of losing his humanity to technology and the overall definition of what truly makes us human.

This movie is fantastic and a huge surprise for this unwitting movie lover, for I was not expecting to see a fully realized future society that felt lived in and believable when first viewing this film. The world that the filmmakers have created within this technological driven story is phenomenal, yet shockingly subtle. The changes in this future society of 2074 are integrated so naturally into the believable structure of the film that it never takes away from the story allowing the core narrative to remain at the forefront of the picture. We have hover boards, hover cars, and a society in a whole that is wildly different from our own, but there is a structure there that is so strangely similar that it makes this fabricated world feel genuine.
 
I great deal of the validity of the movie can be attributed to the various characters that grace the story, especially Edit and her friends. Their culture is that of extreme impulses fused with amplified hormones, painting a very vivid picture of the escalating rate our society seems to be heading, both in the speed of our maturity and the rate of our technological advances. There is a huge fixation on sex within Edit’s core group of friends and there is a healthy obsession with porn and the many accessible ways that it can be filtered to the willing and able through the use of technology. I loved this inclusion to the film and felt that it was a sensible way in rightfully placing us within the culture that these kids are growing up in. It could possibly seem extreme and far-fetched to the average viewer, but taking into account that this is the year 2074, you have to understand that times change and generations progress, and the film follows this concept through in both the visuals and the dialect of the characters. It’s wonderfully conceptualized, adding the much needed depth that is need in order to place us in this time period and familiarize us, the viewer, with this culture of the extremes.

This sexed up techno nation also gives a great comparison to the moral dilemma of the film and that is the loss of humanity through the use of technology. There is a tremendous emphasis on this statement and we are given visual cues that both highlight this fact and carry along this message into the core narrative of the movie. Time and time again, we are shown the inner workings of the society and the various ways that the inhabitants of this world deal with day to day interactions. For example, when Edit is stressed over the recent changes that have come about after implanting the memory chip into her body, her friend takes her to a virtual arcade where people can hook up to a simulator and act out their most wildest of fantasies. This kind of letting go of ones self to technology is what is at the center of Edit’s main problem in the first place. The chip that she has fused inside her is threatening to awaken something within and in that process, devour her. It’s a heavy concept that isn’t knocked over our heads, even with the addition of so many visual cues, but it’s a rule of thumb that is drenched in everything the society stands for. Once Edit hooks up to the virtual machine, she is literally shocked, awakening the ghost in the machine within her and opening up her new found abilities. Once this starts, the film begins to gradually progress into a more action oriented picture that still manages to retain its philosophical tone.
 
The action, once ignited, is furious and violent, mirroring the excessive culture that has already been introduced earlier in the film. The balance between the two portions of the movie, the contemplative side and the savage adrenaline portions, is perfectly matched, unifying both sides and complementing each other in telling the struggle between human and machine. This conscious decision is masterfully done and the action is so fervent and immediate that it really makes you sit up and take notice on how dedicated the crew must have been in telling this complicated story of man’s possible demise. It’s amazing to think that a film can both stimulate the mind as well as satisfy our insatiable appetites for high octane visuals, but this movie does just that.

Technotise: Edit & I, is such an enjoyable film, not only because of the action packed set pieces and the fully realized society that inhabits this fictional world, but for the inclusion of the story elements that delve deeper into the true meaning of being human and the potential loss of that humanity through the over abundance of technology. It’s a tried and true concept that so many great science fiction films have tackled, but I believe that Technotise has brought something new to the old formula.
 
Through the use of masterfully directed sequences and the extreme attention to detail when envisioning the breadth of this future world, Technotise is an accomplished film with a multitude to say and show. If you ever have the chance to see this movie, don’t hesitate. The amount of work that has gone into creating this visually splendid science fiction animated feature has to be seen and the film screams for the attention of all able bodied film lovers that want a little cerebral thinking in their movies. Technotise: Edit & I, is a rare gem and is not to be missed. Simply put, this film is……

Edit, the saddest girl in the world.

You kids better not be looking at that porn again!

Eat your heart out Michael J. Fox!

My god what have I done?!?!

SHOCKING!

Why haven't scientists invented hover boards yet?

So I'm a ghost. Big whoop!

Is this a Sam & Max spinoff or something?

That bunny better not be looking at my ass again.

That a boy! Go for the gold!

Was it something I said?

I'm freaking out here.

Pow! Right in the kisser!

Hello. Yeah, he's looking at porn again.

X-rays of the future are cool.

We're here to fuck.... you up!

Clothing in the future is awesome!

Staring contest... GO!