Zeros and Ones (2011) (VHS Review)
Directed By: Eugene Kotlyarenko
Stars: Morgan Krantz, Jeremy Blackman, Ryan Reyes
Rated: UR
Color of Tape: Red
Case: Clamshell (Large) (Black)
Source: Wild Eye Releasing release (2014)
How Was It Acquired: Screener
Ex Rental: No
Los Angeles, 2006. Life is Easy 2.0 for James Pongo (Morgan Krantz). He has a cushy job, a busy social life and an alluring love interest all through the click of a mouse. But when he wakes up after a night of reckless partying to discover that his computer is missing, James’ hyper-connected reality takes a nosedive. This sends him on a picaresque journey of interrogations and humiliations with the suburban losers he left behind. Told entirely through the websites, programs, games and social networks that make up our daily lives, 0s & 1s uses James Pongo’s nihilistic adventure to question our growing dependency on these alternate digital realities.
Zeros and Ones isn’t something you’ve seen before. I personally find that to be a very good thing and if you like to go into something different with an open mind, then you will probably be in the same boat as me when it comes to something as weird and odd as Zeros and Ones. See, Zeros and Ones is a good story. There is an interesting plot and some interesting characters. It is a whole lot of things rolled into one and all of which are more or less good. The thing about this one is the way it is presented. The movie reminds me of the early years of the internet for me. I’m talking about the dial-up/AOL stuff. Mainly because the whole movie is done in a way that would make you believe you are sitting at an old iMac or some form of other old school computer watching all the events of the film happen, even with the darn annoying pop-ups. It takes some time to get use to at first, but once you settle in to how things roll you should enjoy what you see enough.
Without question Zeros and Ones is an achievement in creativity. If it is your cup of tea or not will remain to be seen, because I can’t be sure of how the person watching the movie will react. I can speak on my personal taste and say that I always look for something that feels different and isn’t like anything I have seen before. I can safely say that this movie fits into that description perfectly. The movie isn’t perfect, but the concept can make it or break it in a lot of people’s eye I’m sure and it works just fine on most levels for me, even if just what type of movie this is can’t be defined in a simple way. At the end of the day, Morgan Krantz leads a good cast that plays their roles really well and the only thing I can’t figure out is why there isn’t a DVD version to go along with the VHS? The VHS is cool and I love the format, but there is a lot of things on-screen we can’t really read because of the quality of the format. There is, however, a digital copy that comes with.
