March 8, 2025

There have been so many movies about fantastical robots and machines taking over our lives at some point in the future, but I hadn't seen a movie about the actual machines that have already taken over our lives in our present day reality. I'm referencing, of course, our phones and other "smart" devices which we're now using obsessively for most of our waking (and even non-waking) hours. Unlike in most sci-fi, they're not embodied in humanoid robo… read the rest.

There have been so many movies about fantastical robots and machines taking over our lives at some point in the future, but I hadn't seen a movie about the actual machines that have already taken over our lives in our present day reality. I'm referencing, of course, our phones and other "smart" devices which we're now using obsessively for most of our waking (and even non-waking) hours. Unlike in most sci-fi, they're not embodied in humanoid robot form and they're not trying to kill us. They're everywhere and in everything and they're always trying to help us. This means that we can't just shut them off or smash them up, and even if we could we wouldn't want to. Or, at least, it would be unwise to destroy them, because we'd be destroying our connection to distant family, friends, news, finances, entertainment, education, employment, etc. We'd be essentially destroying our connection to the rest of humanity. This was especially true during the Covid-19 lockdowns, but that phase in our society accelerated a cultural tendency toward an increasingly codependent relationship with our phones. It's a relationship that can't very easily be opted out of. It must be revolted against, but because it's so deeply embedded in our culture, revolting against the technology can often mean revolting against humanity and revolting against our natural human tendencies. And most of us are not revolutionaries anyway. It's much easier to just leave things as they are and let the phones (and the corporations & governments that control the phones) dictate the flow of our lives...

These thoughts inspired me to make MAN VS PHONE. But could a movie about someone's evolving relationship with their phone actually be watchable? Yes, it could. HER proved that it could. However, HER also involves other people and multiple locations. I didn't have the budget for all that. So, I saw the movies LOCKE and BURIED. They proved that an entertaining feature could be made with just one person in one location talking on the phone. And of course decades earlier, an almost feature length section of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY proved that you can tell an entertaining story with just one person in one location talking to an AI person who is embodied only by a camera lens. This all proved to me that I could make the movie I wanted to make without having the budget for locations or a cast or crew...

So, except for one section of VO, I am the entire cast & crew. It might sound crazy, because it is crazy. But I did it. And it won Best Writer, Feature Film at the 2024 North Idaho Film Festival (noidff.com).

Now you can watch MAN VS PHONE for free for a limited time only on YouTube or Vimeo.

show less

March 18, 2025

There have been so many movies about fantastical robots and machines taking over our lives at some point in the future, but I hadn't seen a movie about the actual machines that have already taken over our lives in our present day reality. I'm referencing, of course, our phones and other "smart" devices which we're now using obsessively for most of our waking (and even non-waking) hours. Unlike in most sci-fi, they're not embodied in human form an… read the rest.

There have been so many movies about fantastical robots and machines taking over our lives at some point in the future, but I hadn't seen a movie about the actual machines that have already taken over our lives in our present day reality. I'm referencing, of course, our phones and other "smart" devices which we're now using obsessively for most of our waking (and even non-waking) hours. Unlike in most sci-fi, they're not embodied in human form and they're not trying to kill us. They're everywhere and in everything and they're always trying to help us. This means that we can't just shut them off or smash them up, and even if we could we wouldn't want to. Or, at least, it would be unwise to destroy them, because we'd be destroying our connection to distant family, friends, news, finances, entertainment, education, employment, etc. We'd be essentially destroying our connection to the rest of humanity. This was especially true during the Covid-19 lockdowns, but that phase in our society accelerated a cultural tendency toward an increasingly codependent relationship with our phones. It's a relationship that can't very easily be opted out of. It must be revolted against, but because it's so deeply embedded in our culture, revolting against the technology can often mean revolting against humanity and revolting against our natural human tendencies. And most of us are not revolutionaries anyway. It's much easier to just leave things as they are and let the phones (and the corporations & governments that control the phones) dictate the flow of our lives...

It's these thoughts that inspired me to make MAN VS PHONE. But could a movie about someone's evolving relationship with their phone actually be watchable? Yes, it could. HER proved that it could. However, HER also involves other people and multiple locations. I didn't have the budget for all that. So, I saw the movies LOCKE and BURIED. They proved that an entertaining feature could be made with just one person in one location talking on the phone. And of course decades earlier, an almost feature length section of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY proved that you can tell an entertaining story with just one person in one location talking to an AI person who is embodied only by a camera lens. This all proved to me that I could make the movie I wanted to make without having the budget for locations or a cast or crew...

So, except for one section of VO, I am the entire cast & crew. It might sound crazy, because it is crazy. But I did it. And it won Best Writer, Feature Film at the 2024 North Idaho Film Festival (noidff.com).

Now you can watch MAN VS PHONE for free for a limited time only on YouTube or Vimeo: youtube.com/@alexanderbergermovies and vimeo.com/alexanderbergermovies

show less