In the 1960s, the avant-garde film movement began. This was both the best and worst thing to happen to cinema. It was great in that the experiments conducted on film by luminaries such as George Pekar, Stan Brakhage, and Robin Leacock led to the wild technological innovations we enjoy today. It was bad in that it taught generations of filmmakers there were no boundaries. You could do as you please, and no matter how terrible the final product, you could always fund another experimental film.
A.I. has only intensified the need to create wildly strange obscurantist cinema. Nay, not even film. Sometimes these productions are in fact video sculptures. What, dear reader, is a video sculpture? It’s an action, a singular action captured on video. Bill Viola and Nam Jun Paik were famous practitioners of video sculpture. And with The Cerebral Organoid, we have been introduced to a film that is, in fact, a video sculpture powered by Mutant A.I.
The Cerebral Organoid is an experiment administered by the Cerebral Organoid Research Institute. In this video tour of the facility, the spectator will experience a series of vignettes – nay, video sculptures prepared by Ian Haig and his collaborator Phillip Brophy. Powered by A.I. Tools, and featuring limited in-camera acting and effects, the sculptures all inform us that the Cerebral Organoid Research Institute is studying the effects of brain rot caused by A.I. It’s measuring and testing this brain rot with – you guessed it – an A.I. Tool. This wickedly tongue-in-cheek feature of the film The Cerebral Organoid is broadcast to us over and over, ad infinitum.
“The Cerebral Organoid Research Institute is studying the effects of brain rot caused by A.I.”
Dear Reader, The Cerebral Organoid is a pure experiment of cinema. This is a test of how much of a cineaste you are. Can you tolerate watching an hour of video sculptures that are brilliantly shot and rendered? Are you able to tolerate repetitive imagery detailing the grotesqueries of exploring brain rot in human males? If you answered yes to these questions, then it is indeed the case that you may very well enjoy The Cerebral Organoid for the avant-garde film experiment it is.
One of the tropes in Haig and Brophy’s work I most appreciate is the repeated leitmotif of the AI voice issuing an apology for the routine maintenance of the Institute, which may lead to AI hallucinations. This particular trope of The Cerebral Organoid will move on a trajectory from annoying to simply charming. It wears you down as you watch this hour-long experiment progress.
Another trope I would urge you to track, dear reader, is the position of the brain. Let me explain. There is a human brain, or at least an AI-generated image of one. It will be positioned in various parts of the screen over the course of The Cerebral Organoid. Depending on where it’s situated determines how far from normalcy this gonzo experiment is being pushed with each and every shot of each and every video sculpture. It really engages you, following where Haig places the brain in each shot.
So, how does this experimental film compare with other A.I. efforts I have witnessed? The Cerebral Organoid is the hands-down winner, bar none. This wild fantasia of gruesome visual expressionism is a hoot, albeit one for a very specific cinematic taste bud involving sadomasochism. If you have the daring, the intestinal fortitude, and the will to view a truly wild avant-garde experiment, seek out The Cerebral Organoid. It will blow your mind.
"…This wild fantasia of gruesome visual expressionism is a hoot."
