For the Plasma (2014)
For the Plasma begins in a remote house on the coast of Maine, where a young woman named Helen has found work as a forest-fire lookout responsible for monitoring the nearby woodland. While analyzing CCTV footage of the surrounding forest, she discovers she can reconfigure her perception to predict shifts in global financial markets. But when her inquisitive and demanding friend Charlie arrives at the house, Helen finds herself challenged and unsettled by her new colleague, and the two girls’ relationship begins to unravel. From this cryptic premise grows a lo-fi mind-bender of intimate scale and startling relevance that flirts with sci-fi and horror conventions, even as it subverts them. To the strains of an electronic score, For the Plasma juxtaposes pastoral imagery with surveillance technology, every shade and shadow captured in gorgeous 16mm.
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Reviews
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
I saw this film at a local film festival, and I have to say, it's awful. The acting is flat, the editing is janky, the lighting is sub-par, most of the dialog is poorly ADRed.Yet, for some reason, I totally loved this film. It's bizarre, quirky without being pretentious, baffling but in a way that doesn't frustrate you. It's charming, it has this unique feel to it that just makes you want like it. It like something you'd see in a motel room at 1am on a public access television station. It's like if Wes Anderson directed a 1988 student SciFi film at his family's summer cabin in Maine, screened it once at student film festival, then threw it in his uncle's storage locker only to be found by a public access TV producer in Toledo Kansas. It feel like something you weren't meant to watch, and in that way it makes you feel special for watching it.We live in an era where "cult movies" aren't really that much of a thing anymore, but I feel like this is going to be a cult movie if only because I'd totally be willing to join that cult. I'm totally going to buy a hard copy of this film (if one ever becomes available) and show it to all my friends, most of who will probably say "why the hell are you showing this to us?" and I'll go, "BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME!!!"