Dreamworld & My Second Life Reviews

I could not resist the late night, gamer double bill of "Dreamworld" and "My Second Life". I've never played Second Life but I have spent more than a few nerdy hours in the World of Warcraft and the Sims. I understand the allure of an avatar and the excitement of joining an online community. Whereas WoW and Sims have, to some extent, game values and goals, Second Life is completely open-ended and a full "metaverse" unto itself. It was because of personal interest and curiosity that I struggled to stay awake through the midnight screenings. I think the effort was worth it. Here are my two short reviews for two short films.

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Dreamworld

Patrick and Danielle are a Dutch couple who spend most of their evenings inside their box suburban home, sitting in computer carols, and living a fantasy through the massive online game "Second Life". The narrative follows the essentially sad attempt by Patrick to live beyond the game and meet some of his virtual girlfriends in the real world. After Patrick travels to America what follows is confusing, awkward and sometimes quite funny. There is a discussion on a motel bed between director Jorien Van Nes and Patrick, especially, that is one of the strangest interactions I've seen in a long time. While Patrick and Van Nes speak in Dutch, Patrick's two female "friends" giggle beside him, not understanding a word. The film's real life sequences are more surreal than the game, and the camera lingers on the pauses and awkwardness without becoming intrusive. Economical editing keeps the events in motion, while the simple visuals still manage to express the isolation of the characters as well as their complete immersion into the Second Life universe. Dreamworld is ultimately neither a sad film nor a particularly dramatic short, but it does say something about the human need for connection and reciprocated love. 4 out of 5.

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My Second Life

My Second Life is billed as the world's first documentary shot entirely within the Second Life metaverse. Director Douglas Gayeton used carefully choreographed shots and voice over to create a narrative about a man named Molotov Alva who transcends his corporal body and enters the world of Second Life in search of its creator. Is this truly, as the summary states, a "documentary within a documentary, a high concept confounding of realities"? It's an experiment, and as someone who's tried to put together rudimentary narratives from other video games, I can attest that this short film represents hours and hours of work. The visuals are really quite well done and the many realms of Second Life are impressive. Alva's exploration of the game uncovers a village of animal avatars (or "furries"), an island where woman are voluntarily playing slaves, and a lovely snowy town where everyone dresses and acts like it's Elizabethan times. These places are the true (although virtual) elements of the film. The story, however, and the dialogue between characters remains very scripted and stiff in their repeated philosophical yearnings to "meet the creator". Especially pretentious is the use of quotations that presume to guide our vapid hero along the road to understanding. I might suggest this film to people particularly interested in video game culture, but even at 35 minutes it requires patience to stay interested. Maybe after six hours of screening docs I was too tired for an existential journey, but even with the truly interesting setting, My Second Life pondered too heavily and postulated too seriously for me to recommend. 2 out of 5.

Molotov Alva is ready with his camera in My Second Life

***Almost all the films I've watched at Hot Docs had the director in attendance for post screening Q&A and Douglas Gayeton, director of Second Life, was no exception. As his own summary notes, Second Life "challenges the definitions of documentary and reality", and is "a film certain to generate fervent debate." When you script a narrative and direct the actions in a video game, someone is bound to ask you how you can categorise this as documentary. When someone asked that very question, Mr. Gayeton took the microphone, paused, and defiantly stated "Because it's true". Then he gave this little "f___ off" shrug and passed the mic back to the moderator without further explanation. That was kind of awesome. Even better, I would have cheered if he had said "Because it's true", then held the microphone out and dropped it like in a rap battle and stormed off the stage (if you don't know what I mean just trust me that it would have been great). When someone later asked him "no, REALLY, how is this a documentary?", Mr. Gayeton accused us of being naive if we didn't know documentaries were edited and scripted. I admire that the director stood up for his work and did not grovel at the feet of public opinion, even if I didn't like his movie.***