Matthew Lessner's Automatic at Sea (2016) is showing September 26 – October 26, 2018 on MUBI.
From the Wikipedia page “Orbitz (drink)”:
Orbitz is the product name of a discontinued noncarbonated fruit-flavored beverage, made by The Clearly Food & Beverage Company of Canada. It was introduced in 1997 and quickly disappeared due to poor sales. Made with small floating edible balls, the drink was marketed as a "texturally enhanced alternative beverage
When we released Automatic at Sea theatrically last year we announced that the film had been fiscally sponsored by Orbitz. We thought it was funny. No one laughed. No one asked any questions either. Humor is subjective. The truth is malleable.
“The result of a consistent and total substitution of lies for factual truth is not that the lie will now be accepted as truth and truth be defamed as a lie, but that the sense by which we take our bearings in the real world—and the category of truth versus falsehood is among the mental means to this end—is being destroyed.”
—Hannah Arendt, “The Origins of Totalitarianism”
This is a film about the distortion of reality. This is a film about shapes. Circles. Loops. Being stuck in a loop. Repetition. Also triangles. This is a film about the unrealized utopian dream of Crystal Pepsi. This a film about a talking black dog. This a film about fear. And facing your fears. This is a film about a bad trip. This is a film about truth. And wealth. And non-linear time. And trauma induced cognitive distortions. This is a film about the ineffable.
The title of Automatic at Sea came to me in a dream. I assume it refers to the process of automatic writing, which occurs without conscious effort by tapping into the subconscious or some other spiritual, or supernatural source. I guess I'll never be sure, but it makes sense to me. In the dream the title was “Automatique at Sea,” but that seemed a little over the top as there is nothing specifically French about the film, except that the main actress was initially going to be French (as opposed to Swedish). I changed it to the English spelling. The film takes place on an island surrounded by the sea, so I guess that's the sea part.
The set up for Automatic at Sea is trope, a scenario that most viewers will be automatically familiar with; strangers together in a remote location waiting for other guests to arrive. I hope that initial sense of familiarity allows the audience to then more easily go somewhere unknown. It's like counting backward before you hypnotize someone. Give them something familiar to hang on to before you take them somewhere without a name. Like a ritual, or casting a spell.
Automatic at Sea is an invitation to have an experience, hopefully a unique one. I think the experience has the potential to be more valuable if the viewer is invited to become an active participant in that process, perhaps gaining some degree of ownership over it. So I'm inviting you now.
My best advice is to to let the film wash over you like you're standing under a waterfall in an old shampoo commercial. It's almost like the advice you would give to someone having their first psychedelic experience. The hallmark of a bad trip is trying to fight it, trying to escape. Just remember that you are under the influence, and the only way out is through. Let everything flow. If fear arises look it in the eye, acknowledge its presence. Say hello. Offer it a drink. Perhaps an Orbitz? My favorite flavor is Blueberry Melon Strawberry. What's yours?