Fan Film Review: Circadia

I’ve been privileged to be able to view movies for a while now on independent steaming channels  and the movies on offer there are consistently impressive.  Circadia is yet another installment in a long line of wonderful short films on offer there.

Borrowing from luminary predecessors like “The Twilight Zone”, “The Outer Limits” and “Black Mirror”; Circadia is a prescient piece of science fiction warning us of a possible future.  Where earlier versions of this type of fiction focused on the dangers of state overreach, robotics and space travel; current science fiction has shifted their attention on the emerging technologies of today.  Circadia chooses to focus on the dangers of social media and the inevitable confluence of social media presence and advanced technology that will eventually lead to the complete loss of privacy and a flood of information that will overwhelm and dominate the human consciousness.  It could be argued that we are well on our way to that future now.  However, in a future where the machine has the ability to insert social media and the internet directly into your mind, not as far fetched as you may believe, Circadia posits that humanity has lost it’s ability to listen and can now only hear.  The individual is now only a conduit for endless streams of information that overwhelm and consume the mind.

In this future, our protagonist Lyla is seeking silence, a precious commodity that can destroy individuals who do not have the proper equipment to facilitate their separation from the technological teat.  Although this movie is only 5 minutes and change long, it does an impressive job illustrating the challenges of this new world and the desperate leap of faith Lyla is about to take.  The visual effects and editing in this film are incredibly well done and the writing is second to none, providing many quotable lines of uncommon wisdom and insight.

All in all this is a fine film and one I would love to see made into a feature film.  I can’t recommend it enough.

Writing – 5 of 5 Stars
Direction – 5 of 5 Stars
VFX – 5 of 5 Stars
Editing – 5 of 5 Stars

Overall Score – 5 of 5 Stars

Written and Directed by Jacob Murray
Produced by Howard Murray, Jacob Murray, Daniel Kepler
VFX by Daniel Kepler
Edited by Mika Miyazaki, Gilmour
Cinematography by Mario Contini

Starring
Tamzin Brown as Lyla
Sachi Allesio as Circadia Program