Creative Control Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Creative Control Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 17, 2016

Creative? Yes. Controlled? Not really. Director Benjamin Dickinson, who also co-wrote the screenplay and stars as the lead character, has constructed a telling and twisting tale of humanity's near future in Creative Control where cutting edge technology has its place, and takes people to places they've never before imagined, such as down darker roads and dangerous avenues that extend beyond the eyes and pollute the soul. The film may as well just heave up a bunch of warning signs for the duration. A dark but not particularly brooding study of man's addictions to technology and sex and the marriage of the two -- which here extends well beyond pointing a web browser at a naughty site or picking up a skin magazine at the convenience store -- demonstrate the dangers posed by a world with all-too-easy access to shape it any which way one desires, extending beyond the screen or page and into something practically indistinguishable from real life.

Reality?

David (Benjamin Dickinson) works in advertising. He and his firm are tasked with marketing a hot new tech product called "Augmenta" that "enhances real life with a magical layer in front of it." In other words, it's the latest and greatest in virtual reality, but this isn't another bulky headset. It's a simple, inconspicuous pair of eyeglasses. But how can an upstart compete with the established big boys? That's where David and his crew come in. To market the product, he needs to understand it. He gives it a shot, and his trial becomes much more. He finds himself ever distanced from his girlfriend Juliette (Nora Zehetner). He uses the technology to carry out a virtual affair with his friend Wim's (Dan Gill) girlfriend, Sophie (Alexia Rasmussen).

Creative Control certainly doesn't explore new themes, though it's certainly the most timely to do so. Altered-reality addiction is something of a staple in the Science Fiction genre, with perhaps the most obvious, and approachable, example coming from the world of Star Trek in the Next Generation episode "Hollow Pursuits" in which minor character Reginald Barclay must deal with his addiction to the ship's "Holodeck," a room in which the computer creates a virtual world to the individual's tastes, where the rules can be rewritten and the individual may act without constraints in attitude and interaction with others and his environment. Creative Control may seem less fantastic, perhaps because nothing about it feels all that cutting edge in a world where bulky virtual reality headsets -- Oculus, Playstation VR -- are set to become commonplace and where a digital wristwatch or pocket-sized device can do almost anything one asks of it. Indeed, the film feels eerily timely and its narrative all too believable. The film works hard to demonstrate the dangers inherent to fast-moving technology that doesn't support or enhance life but rather fundamentally alters (or augments, to use a more forgiving term and a nod to the product's name) one's perception of it. But it doesn't always succeed.

The film is often more bizarre than it is beautiful, more dramatically aimless than it is thematically on point. The movie undeniably has much to say, and it efforts to say it all in a number of ways: directly, indirectly, stylistically. But the movie fails to build the bigger picture beyond its cautionary tale. Characters are largely dull and questionably developed to the point that they don't so much run together but rather never identify beyond crude, basic details. Relationship drama scenes often stagnate and drag on too long. The film overemphasizes style, even beyond its (largely) black-and-white veneer, feeling like too much of a try-hard in accentuating moments with slow-motion photography and over-amped blasts of music. Performances are by-and-large fine, though without enough meat to really appreciate the characters' shadowy subtleties scattered amongst the larger arcs. The film also struggles with pace, clocking in at an agreeable sub-100 minute runtime but never quite finding enough balance between intimate characterization and broader narrative details; one always seems to be bogging the other down. One can read any number of parallels into the choice to shoot (mostly) in black-and-white, particularly the contextualized loss of identity; as technology grows ever more capable of molding itself to a specific user's wants and needs, and meeting and perhaps even exceeding them, the more one, in this movie, grows detached from themselves. One of the movie's treats is trying to decipher what that, or any other stylistic choice, adds to the sum total of its points of view.

Creative Control Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Creative Control's (mostly) black-and-white presentation captures a certain near-future smoothness and ultra-cleanness. Details are clear and nicely defined, but the movie is often devoid of very sharp, roughhewn texturing. Surfaces are forgivingly silky; even cell phones are nothing but a transparent block. Faces reveal decent definition from pores and facial hair (of which there is plenty) but without serious, effortlessly tangible complexity. There are a few splashes of color. A few blue letters or graphics appear in some of the digital holographic projections, and a couple of characters are colored in around the black-and-white surroundings at key moments later in the movie. These colors are fine, not particularly punchy but bold enough, certainly, to stand apart. Mild banding and very light noise are evident in spots.

Creative Control Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Creative Control bends the reality of the listening area via the delivery of a good all-around DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. It's rather front-heavy. Surrounds are used with some consistency, but mostly in a very gentle, subtle, honest supportive manner that lightly accentuates or finely tunes an environment. Music enjoys positive instrumental clarity with a fair front end spacing. Dance beats at a club push the envelope a little further, with a strong, weightily low end support and strong definition of the wide range of notes. For the most part, however, this is a dialogue intensive film. The spoken word is well prioritized and center-front positioned. Clarity is always fine.

Creative Control Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Creative Control contains a few scattered extras.

• Deleted Scenes (1080p): Scott & David at a Bar (1:53), Reggie in the Lab (1:10), The Ceremony (2:05), Wim at His Studio (1:09), and The Coffee Dance (0:55).
• Reggie Watts Music Video (1080p, 2:45).
• Phalinex Commercial (1080p, 0:36): An ad for panic attack medicine.
• Augmenta Commercial (1080p, 1:30): An ad for the technology seen in the movie.
• Previews: Additional Sony titles.

Creative Control Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Creative Control is certainly one of the most frustrating films of the past few years. On one hand it offers a seriously timely and, in its own weird way, insightful commentary on where the world may be headed. On the other, the movie is a soupy, murky mess that can't establish much rhythm or engage the audience beyond the core idea, and certainly not with these characters as constructed and presented. It's certainly worth a watch, but chances are most will walk away confused rather than satisfied and craving more than the movie can ultimately deliver. Sony's Blu-ray offers scant supplements but does provide solid enough video and audio. Rent it.