Filmmaker and documentarian Rodney Ascher has tackled a lot of interesting topics over the last few years, from his deep dive into The Shining with Room 237 to tackling sleep paralysis for The Nightmare as well as The El Duce Tapes, which examined the career and persona of the infamous lead singer of The Mentors. For his latest project, A Glitch in the Matrix, Ascher explores the concept of simulation theory, which is centered around the idea that the world and reality we live in isn’t exactly what it seems.
Recently, Daily Dead had the opportunity to speak with Ascher about A Glitch in the Matrix, and he discussed the influence of Philip K. Dick on his latest documentary, what inspired him to dig into simulation theory in the first place, and more.
A Glitch in the Matrix recently screened as part of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and will...
Recently, Daily Dead had the opportunity to speak with Ascher about A Glitch in the Matrix, and he discussed the influence of Philip K. Dick on his latest documentary, what inspired him to dig into simulation theory in the first place, and more.
A Glitch in the Matrix recently screened as part of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and will...
- 2/2/2021
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
I often wonder what influential film theorist Andre Bazin would make of VR and simulations, especially when this year’s Sundance has virtualized the festival experience in a way that benefits from a longer runway than most cultural events pivoting likewise. It’s only fitting that Rodney Ascher’s mind-bending A Glitch in the Matrix would premiere alongside the festival’s virtual avatar party taking place in a computer-generated “space station” that lets us keep a healthy distance. Ascher’s film, which unfolds through a series of virtual interviews, edges towards and backs away from explaining what it could’t have predicted: a virtual end to American democracy during the final days of the Trump administration. If ever there was any point for an experiment to fail in chaos, we broached it while the movie’s virtual print was virtually wet––as the old expression goes.
Ascher, whose work ranges...
Ascher, whose work ranges...
- 2/2/2021
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Director Rodney Ascher’s specialty is obsession, but his approach succeeds as compassion. After giving voice to people consumed by “The Shining” (“Room 237”), ventriloquist dummies (“The Wooden Boy”) and sleep paralysis (“The Nightmare”), he’s shifted his attention to simulation theory with “Glitch in the Matrix,” premiering at Sundance just before it goes into wider release.
A subject tailor-made for college, festival and midnight audiences, simulation theory questions human determination by positing that we are merely avatars, and that some greater force — an external gamer, if you will — is our master manipulator.
Much of this concept comes directly from sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick, who is copiously represented throughout “Glitch.” Ascher makes much use of a recorded 1977 event in which Dick presents these ideas with utmost sincerity, even while admitting that “I may be talking about something which does not exist. Therefore, I am free to say everything and nothing.
A subject tailor-made for college, festival and midnight audiences, simulation theory questions human determination by positing that we are merely avatars, and that some greater force — an external gamer, if you will — is our master manipulator.
Much of this concept comes directly from sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick, who is copiously represented throughout “Glitch.” Ascher makes much use of a recorded 1977 event in which Dick presents these ideas with utmost sincerity, even while admitting that “I may be talking about something which does not exist. Therefore, I am free to say everything and nothing.
- 1/31/2021
- by Elizabeth Weitzman
- The Wrap
Rodney Ascher’s movies dwell on absurd theories until they start to make a weird kind of sense. His provocative feature-length debut “Room 237” mashed up a range of wild theories about the meaning of “The Shining” and his terrifying “The Nightmare” finds victims of sleep paralysis musing on whether they’ve had bonafide supernatural encounters. Now comes “A Glitch in the Matrix,” a meandering but imaginative riff on same scary-fun approach to actualizing outrageous ideas — but this one widens the scope.
The so-called “simulation theory” has floated around in various forms for millennia, but became more pronounced after the success “The Matrix” encouraged many viewers to question the reality of their surroundings. Drawing on interviews with 10 experts and internet theorists with an endearing mashup of film clips and trippy 3-D animation, “A Glitch in the Matrix” adapts to the internal logic of its echo chamber until starts to sound...
The so-called “simulation theory” has floated around in various forms for millennia, but became more pronounced after the success “The Matrix” encouraged many viewers to question the reality of their surroundings. Drawing on interviews with 10 experts and internet theorists with an endearing mashup of film clips and trippy 3-D animation, “A Glitch in the Matrix” adapts to the internal logic of its echo chamber until starts to sound...
- 1/31/2021
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
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