Daft Punk Unchained

Of all the things to happen so far this year, the one thing I expected the least was the recent and sudden split of French house duo Daft Punk, whose music I discovered in high school and whose body of work I have been a fan of ever since. As a way to honor their legacy, I decided to watch the 2015 documentary Daft Punk Unchained, which I had heard about and didn’t actually watch until now, through a French import of a DVD/Blu-ray Steelbook set on a region-free player. Though I knew some stuff about the band already, this documentary taught me information about the duo that I didn’t know about before and gave me better insight into their musical ideology and impact.

Daft Punk's Electroma

In 2006, following Interstella 5555, Daft Punk produced another movie, this time to compliment their Human After All album, titled Daft Punk's Electroma. While I did re-watch Interstella 5555 for purposes of a review as a tie-in to the duo's upcoming Random Access Memories album, I don't really want to watch this one again. When I watched it once, I found the movie to be really bizarre, most likely due to its nature as an experimental film. As such, I will be relying both on memory and a booklet inside the DVD case that contains nothing but screenshots detailing the entire plot.

The movie begins with two robots that look like Daft Punk (played by Peter Hurteau and Micheal Reich) driving through the landscape until they come to a small town populated by other robots that look like Daft Punk. The main Daft Punk-looking duo go to a facility where they go through a slow and lengthy process and are given the appearance of humans via a strange topically-applied goop. They soon find out that the robot denizens of the town are not amused.

The movie itself feels like an extended music video for the title track of Daft Punk's Human After All album which, if my research is correct, it actually is. The duo was going to make a music video for the song, but it somehow turned into this movie. The result is a story that is both easy and difficult to understand, in that you can get the main gist of it but at the same time wonder why certain scenes are in it that last so long. A few times during the movie there are extended shots of little to nothing happening, especially a rather lengthy hike through the desert that takes up the entire third act, which can get kind of boring rather quickly. That's not to say the cinematography was flawed, it just tends to show a lot of nothing.

When you know it's not the actual Daft Punk playing the main Daft Punk robots in the feature, it can feel like it's just a couple of guys in costumes rather than the real deal (who are, in fact, guys in costumes, so go figure). However, Peter Hurteau and Micheal Reich do a fairly decent job filling in Daft Punk's place in the feature, and using them as the main duo was probably a good move on Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo's part so they wouldn't be confused with any of the other actors wearing the robot costumes during filming.

Peter Hurteau and Michael Reich as Daft Punk. Don't ask me which is which.

In an odd sort of move for the feature, none of the music presented is actually by Daft Punk themselves, rather being performed by a host of other people. This isn't to say the music is bad, it actually seems to fit somewhat if my memory is correct, but it just seems weird that Daft Punk didn't do the music for their own feature. It should also be noted that, much like Interstella 5555, this movie also doesn't feature any sort of spoken dialogue. However, unlike Interstella 5555, the lack of dialogue here only adds to how uneasy and bizarre the atmosphere can get at times.

Overall, Daft Punk's Electroma is neither good nor bad, just...weird. The movie can get a little slow at times and certain sequences just seem to drag on a little longer than they need to. If you're someone who enjoys experimental or midnight features, this is probably a movie you would enjoy. As for Daft Punk fans, I would encourage you to watch the movie at least once, because only then can you form an actual opinion about it. As for me, it just isn't my kind of movie, but I will still hold on to it for the sake of completing my Daft Punk collection.

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem

Allow me to preface this review by saying that I am a big fan of the French House duo Daft Punk. I discovered this group around the release of the first DJ Hero, which lead me to listen to what their songs sound like unmixed. I ended up enjoying what I was hearing, exposing me to an entire music genre (Electronica) and have been exploring the realms of that genre, and Daft Punk memorabilia, ever since. As I was exploring Daft Punk's backlog, I discovered that their second album, Discovery, was adapted into an anime film released in 2003, the subject of this review. I remember liking it when I first saw it, and with the release of Daft Punk's fourth studio album, Random Access Memories, coming up, I decided it would be appropriate to review this film as a celebration of sorts. Now without further ado, let's take a look at Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem.

After a few briefs clips of Leiji Matsumoto speaking about the movie, the story begins on a distant planet populated by blue-skinned humanoids, most of whom are enjoying a rock band made up of four of their kind playing the song "One More Time", including the planetary defense unit. Meanwhile, a mysterious spaceship begins to spy on the planet, deploying groups of soldiers to kidnap the band. The soldiers prove to be successful, leading the defense force to send a distress signal to another, similar alien (named Shep in supplemental material), leading him to chase the mysterious craft back to Earth where he crashes. It is then shown that the alien band is being altered to resemble humans more closely, to the point where their memories are altered as well.

One thing I like about Interstella 5555 is that it manages to tell a coherent story featuring likable characters, interesting plot twists, and a number of emotional scenes, all without having any spoken dialogue whatsoever. Any "dialogue" to be found here comes from lip-syncing the characters' mouths to the music when there is any singing, but even then it doesn't happen that often. Even though there isn't any dialogue to give the characters a personality, the personality is all in their body language, somehow being enough to get you to feel for what the character is going through. This movie does have its own villain, but without any spoken word to make you get that they're the villain, the body language and animation are enough to get across their motivations and evil nature, which is truly spectacular for this movie and helps make them more memorable.

The main characters in their original form (from left): Octave, Baryl, Arpegius, Stella

The animation itself is spectacularly pulled off, being timed masterfully to the background music and managing to display any character's entire personality and emotional range. Leiji Matsumoto and the animators at Toei Animation did an amazing job especially with the more emotional scenes in the movie and getting you to care about the characters on-screen. I often found myself fascinated by what part of the visuals was timed to what part of the song (in a good way) and I especially praise the timing of the opening scene of the bands playing their song as it times perfectly with the music (something the Adult Swim cartoon Metalocalypse would later pull off with good results). The character designs are also nice to look at, being fairly realistic with just enough cartoonish/anime elements to be visually appealing and not uncanny.

The background music, primarily being Daft Punk's Discovery album, fits well with the story presented in the movie, written by Daft Punk (Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo), Leiji Matsumoto, and Cédric Hervet; or is it that the story fits well with the music? Whatever the case, Daft Punk's album provides the perfect background for the movie, which I don't think could have worked very well without it. Discovery as an album is enjoyable by itself, and if you don't like it upon first listen, this movie might give you a new perspective on it.

Thomas Bangalter (left) and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (right)

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem is not only an enjoyable anime film, it is one of the best animated features I have ever seen. The animation manages to things that most movies would need dialogue for and pulls it off splendidly while letting the music speak for itself. I'm not sure I would let a small child watch this movie, given that the story contains one or two heavy concepts as part of the plot. This movie may require an extra viewing to see the more minor details of the plot, but once you do it becomes easier to understand. I would consider this movie required viewing for Daft Punk and anime fans, though people who aren't that into either may want to think about giving it a shot anyway.

[OLD] Second Opinion - TRON: Legacy

This game has been re-reviewed. Read it here: https://trophyunlocked.blogspot.com/2020/01/second-look-tron-legacy.html

As a fan of the original Tron movie, I was looking forward to its then-upcoming sequel, Tron: Legacy, last year. It was around this time that I discovered Daft Punk, and their involvement with the project got me even more excited for it. When I first saw this sequel in the theater, I left with the same feeling of amazement that I had when I saw the original when I was younger. Recently I watched this movie again, and I still enjoy it as much as I did the first time.

The story here is easier to follow than the first, though it admittedly has a few holes in it. For instance, they make the portal to the real world out to be difficult to reach, yet there's a Solar Sailer, a means of transport in the Grid, conveniently headed straight toward it. Otherwise, while it was a little predictable the first time around, I still liked the simplicity of the plot compared to the original.

The visual effects are among some of the best I have ever seen in a movie, especially one from 2010. Parts of the Grid felt more organic and free than in the first Tron, especially the beams emitted by various vehicles such as the iconic Light Cycle. On the other hand, the effects used to make C.L.U. appear as a younger Jeff Bridges dipped into uncanny valley quite a bit, but the effort shouldn't go unrecognized.

What really carries the movie is the music, made entirely by Daft Punk save for a couple existing songs. Their appearance in the actual film as a pair of DJ's in the End of Line Club makes their contribution a little more amazing, and I was really excited to see them on the big screen for the first time. The soundtrack by itself is a must-have for any Tron or Daft Punk fan, though I find it amazing how hard it is to acquire every track. In any case, it matched the events on-screen, especially inside the Grid, perfectly.

Tron: Legacy is a simply amazing sequel that outshines its predecessor in just about every way. The story and effects work really well, even with a few setbacks, and the music is a perfect blend of old and new that is a stunning listen by itself. If you are a fan of either Tron or Daft Punk, this a movie that should not be missed.