Description
Comprised entirely of hundreds of film samples, Hello Dankness is a political fable that bears witness to the psychotropic spectacle of American politics from 2016 to 2021, and the mythologies and lore that took root around it. Taking form as a suburban stoner musical, the film follows a neighborhood through these years as consensus reality disintegrates into conspiracy and other contagions. What unfolds is a rogue retelling of history in which hotdogs debate culture wars, trashcans preach QAnon, zombies rally for revolution, and real events are refashioned as Broadway bangers from Cats, Les Miserables, Annie, and The Phantom of the Opera.
There are songs and dancing, moments of menace and melancholy, shitposting and deep sincerity. Such janky weirdness is befitting of an era in which reality feels so baked and bombastic, but Hello Dankness never loses sight of the way this unreality is tethered to the devastating material conditions that characterize this moment. Soda Jerk began working on the film in 2019 and labored on it throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Hello Dankness is a record of the time, written from the time.
The cast of characters include Tom Hanks, Annette Bening, Bruce Dern, Ice Cube, Wayne and Garth, Maya and Ana, Rue and Jules, Seth Rogan and Reyn Doi. American politicians play themselves, with Jesse Eisenberg in the role of Mark Zuckerberg, and The Phantom of the Opera as Vladimir Putin.
2022 | 70 mins | Color | 5.1 sound | Entirely sample-based, no original video or audio | Political fable, suburban stoner musical, rogue documentary, Greek tragedy, zombie apocalypse, American stiob
Sunday, 9/3 at 1:30 pm @ Theater #4 (IMAX)
Soda Jerk will be present post-screening for what is sure to be one interesting AF film discussion.