Ivan Kander
Great science fiction is predicated on great concepts—ideas that move beyond the appeal of just special effects and force us to think about the world in a more critical way. Jiminy, a short coming out out of the French technical film school 3iS, is that sort of sci-fi film. Feeling like it could easily be an entry in the BBC’s dystopian anthology series, Black Mirror, it envisions a world where people are implanted with a device that can control their actions. With just a simple switch to “automatic mode,” a “cricket” takes over and gives a person an opportunity to check out and put something else in control.
While the concept is somewhat far-fetched, director Arthur Môlard manages to make the cinematic world believable. After all, it’s hard to deny how nice it would be if you could just drift away and let something else handle the hard work. Imagine: not having to sit through another boring day in your office cubicle. Just let your body slip into autopilot as the cricket takes control.
Here on Short of the Week, we screen a lot science fiction films. And, it’s been a trend for some time now to see more and more incredible visual effects make their way into the short form. Budgets and scopes are getting bigger and bigger. But, while Jiminy is certainly a very polished production, it’s also not big and bombastic. The ideas and world-building are strong, but the focus, ultimately, is on characters and their decisions. The central conflict falls on the shoulders of the protagonist, Nathanaël. Should he hack and alter an autistic boy’s programming? It’s a great narrative question that brings forth larger philosophical issues about the mind and the nature of control. Essentially, what if there was no free will?
Via Film Shortage, director Môlard reveals what sparked the film’s central idea: “I had the idea of the pitch while reading an account of a scientific experiment. In May 2002, scientists from New York University have set a chip in the brain of a rat. This chip allowed them to control the movements of the rat thanks to a mechanism of direction. My co-writer Teddy Jacquier and I have imagined what would happen if people have this kind of chip in their brain in the future.”
As the title cards at the start of the film suggest (to be honest, this is a habit we wish filmmakers would break), Jiminy played fests in France and across the world. And, really, it’s easy to see why: smart, thoughtful science fiction is always welcome entertainment.