Visioneers (Jared Drake, 2008): USA

Reviewed by Frances Rozhko. Viewed at the AFI Filmfest, Arclight Hollywood, CA.

Visioneers by Jared Drake is a very odd film. It is a film about a man named George who works for a very big corporation called the Jeffers Corporation. This corporation influences lifelong happiness and productivity each and every day. The companies slogan is a big middle finger, so in return all of the employees give each other the finger every morning in honor of their jobs.

In the life that George lives, people are susceptible to explode. Dreaming is a sign of explosion. Although George dreams numerous amounts of times he does not explode. There are situations where he feels that he is frustrated and aggravated and starts breaking things and punching walls, but he never explodes. He is a descendant of George Washington which makes him feel like he has a pressure to live up to something great. He has a wife who is dull and in a way turns crazy when she buys a book on how to be happy. The world that George lives in is obsessed with being happy, they want everyone to be happy all of the time. So this sets the scene that George has to live in.

After I viewed this film in the Arclight theatre a whole group of the crew that worked on this film came down for a Q & A. As I listened to the director speak about the film I realized that my interpretations of the film were exactly that what he intended for people to get out of it. The film basically shows a life where working for a big corporation is the way to go. Your personal dreams don’t really matter because your just going to settle down here and do this job for the rest of you life. The whole theme on people being susceptible to explode if they dream to me means that, if you dream you die. Dreaming is simply not allowed unless you want to die. It simply does not exist in this world. The director also explained personal experience that he encountered wile working with a Car Towing Company. He explained that when he was at work he thought to himself “if I don’t get out of here, I’m going to explode” and that is where that concept in the movie came from which i thought was pretty clever.

It was interesting to see Judy Greer as Michelle in the film. I have seen her in numerous other films and it was nice to see that she was into independent films as well. I also really liked Charisma, who was played by Mia Maestro. Not only was she gorgeous but she played her character very well. She was very friendly and she always left a smiley face on Georges Work.

This film completely resembles Stranger then Fiction. This movie was odd, it was in a different realm. It wasn’t a normal film, and it triggered your mind and brain to think. I personally love movies like this, movies that you have to watch more then once to understand. They are similar to me because they both focus on a main character who in a way seems lost, and doesn’t really understand what is going on around him. They express a feeling that is not realistic, almost fictional.

Anyone who enjoys films that are a little more complicated and odd should watch this film. This film was definitely different, it focused on different aspects of life. Whether it was living in a world of dreams or fake happiness. This film was definitely very interesting. I enjoyed trying to grasp the different situations that were going on and also enjoyed the humorous moments it had as well.