Copy Shop (2001)

Director:

Virgil Widrich

Writer:

Virgil Widrich (writer)

Genre:

Drama | Short | Comedy

Plot:

Wordless story about a man who awakes in his bed wearing his clothes (including a check vest). He rises...

Plot Keywords:

Photocopy | Time Loop | Human Duplication | Photocopier | Surrealism

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 28 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Johannes Silberschneider	...	Alfred Kager
Elisabeth Ebner-Haid	...	Flower girl

Also Known As:

Fototypeio (Greece) (festival title) [el]

Runtime:

12 min

Country:

Austria

Language:

None

Color:

Black and White

Certification:

Argentina:Unrated | Germany:o.Al.

Company:

Virgil Widrich Filmproduktion

Trivia:

The movie was shoot with a digital video camera. After filming, all images had been manipulated in the computer, printed with a regular laser printer (about 18,000 single pages) and then filmed with a 35mm film camera.

Clever and technically brilliant but almost outstays it's welcome

A young man who works in a photocopying shop photocopies his hand with amusement one day. However the photocopy then kicks out copies of him earlier in the day etc. He turns the machine off and locks the copies away. However he finds copies of himself repeating themselves all over his town as things begin to get out of hand.

I had very high hopes for this before I watched it because I had heard good things about it and I was mainly satisfied afterwards despite a few problems. The story could be taken as an allegory of cloning or several other things. I ignored the subtexts and focused on the fact that it was simply a clever idea at heart. Technically the film is brilliantly imaginative and worth watching. The film was shot digitally. These digital images were then all photocopied and then animated. In terms of the plot this adds eight to the copying subject but it is also an very different way to make a film.

The slight downside is that the grainy images and rough style can be a little hard on the eyes at first, but I soon forgot this as I watched it. The plot is very clever but it is just one idea. After several minutes the novelty and the freshness wears off and it starts to outstay it's welcome – I wanted it to go somewhere. The ending is good and it saves the film just as it was starting to run out of steam.

Overall I enjoyed it and there's no doubting the imagination and technical ability that went into making this. In a world where Being John Malkovich is praised then this too should be appreciated as it has similar shots if not ideas. Well worth a look – plus it's easily the best (the only!) piece of Austrian cinema I've ever seen!