Film: Geneva Jacuzzi’s Casket
Directed By: Chris Friend
Starring: Geneva Jacuzzi
Geneva Jacuzzi’s Casket is a short film that has been described as a “futuristic head trip” by the director of the film, Chris Friend, and no other description rings more true. Within a little over six minutes the viewer is delightfully bombarded with impeccable visuals that evoke the feeling one would get when reading a Philip K. Dick novel. Geneva Jacuzzi’s song “Casket” itself sounds like the kind of music replicants from the film Blade Runner would listen to. It’s robotic but filled with personality as if it were an android that has become self-aware. Chris Friend understands this music, so he perfectly mirrors the song’s tone with dystopian imagery, but instead of relying solely on trippy imagery, this film has a plot featuring characters with magnificent costumes and makeup, all played by Geneva Jacuzzi herself. The plot is intriguing, but frustrating, frustrating because it’s hard to follow due to the constant visuals being thrown at you, but that frustration is part of the film’s charm. Upon watching it my frustration got me thinking about the idea of “control.” Control is something we all like to think we have at any given moment. Much like the visuals in the film that derail your goal to follow the plot all the way through, life is filled with distractions and left turns that render us vulnerable as we try to work around the obstructions to reach our goals, and who knows how many secret forces are already controlling us right now. How does this relate to the film? Well, what is the sole purpose of robots? To control them. To have them do things for you to make your life stress free and convenient, but what happens when your Pleasure-U BioDrone contracts a mental disease and you’re forced to amputate its head? Well, our main character in the film who goes by the name Kate Shaw faces this dilemma, making the decision to keep the body of the drone alive in what is called a “Pleasure Center Casket” as an attempt to regain control of the situation, but sure enough that control diminishes as the BioDrone’s head continuously calls to Kate’s brain with hallucinatory visions. This could symbolize all of things that are used to brain wash us from various forms of media, constantly telling us how to think and how to feel. If that isn’t control, then I don’t know what is. Maybe that’s not even close to what director Chris Friend was getting at with this film, but this film is the work of a director who clearly has no interest in spelling things out for the viewer, so in the end you’re forced to formulate your own interpretation, and even if your interpretation is wrong, that’s okay, because you have no control over that either.
Written By: Steven Sandoval
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