TIFF 2013 Review: Subconscious Password (2013)

Cast: John Dilworth
Director: Chris Landreth
Country: Canada
Genre: Animation | Short
Official Website: Here

Editor’s Notes: The following review is part of our coverage of the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. For more information on the festival visit http://tiff.net and follow TIFF on Twitter at @TIFF_NET.

Walking into a building I have visited countless times yesterday, I was greeted by a man who was a stranger to me, but seemed to recognize me. He was excited to see me and began spilling out details of his life and recollections from our previous conversation, one that I am reasonably certain never occurred. He got a lot of details about me right, but he also got a lot completely wrong, to the point I am reasonably certain he was looking for another guy with a beard entirely. Being the crazy person that I am, I played along with this conversation, accepting the truths about this self he thrust on me, and quickly extricated myself from the situation. It was a weird, alienating experience, but it was not one that is unique to me, and in fact, something quite like it happens all the time.

Subconscious Password, the newest short film from Oscar winning animator Chris Landreth, is on its surface about the moment when someone you do know approaches you at a party and you simply cannot remember their name.

Subconscious Password, the newest short film from Oscar winning animator Chris Landreth, is on its surface about the moment when someone you do know approaches you at a party and you simply cannot remember their name. The writer-director also stars as Charles, a writer crippled by social anxiety who goes into a panic when he is approached by a guest (John R. Dilworth) who remembers him from years back, a man whose name he cannot recall. This is a painfully relatable premise, and were that the extent of the film, it might still earn nods of recognition and empathetic groans from pretty much any viewer. Yet the film quickly plunges us into Charles’ subconscious for a wildly surreal take on the classic game show Password.

Hosted by Charles’ Super-ego, and attended by various celebrities, authors, and figures from Charles’ life, the game proceeds as it always does. We know the password, the host knows the password, and the other team member tries to get Charles to guess it. Again, this would probably be a clever enough premise for a short film to subsist on, but Landreth suffuses every moment of the game with such visual dynamism, the film takes on its own life. Characters sneeze and dissolve into pixels, explode out of their own frustration, and are devoured by creatures of their own creation. This is all part and parcel of Landreth’s “psychorealism” style, where the director aims to encapsulate the complexity of the human psyche in a visual medium, and it’s a vibrant, funny, chaotically creative process to behold.

The film doesn’t have much time for subtlety, but then, it doesn’t need to, seeing as it takes place in Charles’ subconscious. Yoko Ono (Patrice Goodman) is there representing Charles’ latent issues with the feminine aspects of his psyche, and soon Charles is being berated by a series of authors who have influenced him, including H.P. Lovecraft (Tony Daniels), who is almost immediately devoured by his teammate, Cthulu. That Subconscious Password allowed me to type the note “H.P. Lovecraft eaten by Cthulu” should really speak for the film in and of itself.

Subconscious Password is a blast to watch, but it still takes time to delve into Charles’ social anxiety and to tromp through his past in search of answers.

I had a smile plastered to my face throughout the film, so inspired is its visual scheme, so joyful and vibrant its approach. Landreth’s love of filmmaking, and his brilliantly weird style, is apparent in every moment. He packs the frame with activity, fills the script with jokes and references, and yet still gets at a deeper emotional truth in the process. Subconscious Password is a blast to watch, but it still takes time to delve into Charles’ social anxiety and to tromp through his past in search of answers. The film doesn’t just mine a common phenomenon of social embarrassment for cheap laughs or easy pathos, it finds the comedy and the catharsis rooted deep within Charles himself. This is a frenetic film in the best possible sense, with a madcap energy, a surreal sense of humor, and an emotional core that is immensely relatable and completely unique. It’s a stylistic wonder with weight, a visual carnival packed to the brim with cotton candy that tastes great, and doesn’t leave you feeling empty afterwards.

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Jordan Ferguson

Sr. Staff Film Critic

Jordan Ferguson is a lifelong pop culture fan, and would probably never leave his couch if he could get away with it. When he isn’t wasting time “studying the law” at the University of Michigan, he writes about film, television, and music. In addition to writing for Next Projection, he is the Editor-in-Chief of Review To Be Named, a homemade haven for pop-culture obsessives. Check out more of his work at Reviewtobenamed.com , follow him on twitter @bobchanning, or just yell really loudly on the street. Don’t worry, he’ll hear.

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