Visioneers

Jared Drake’s directorial debut “Visioneers” is an existential black comedy that follows the life of George Washington Winsterhammerman (Zach Galifianakis).  Set in the near future, George is climbing up the ladder at the world’s largest, happiest and most profitable company, the Jeffers Corporation.  When people everywhere start to spontaneously explode, presumably due to stress, he begins having strange dreams about being the president of the United States.  He fears that these dreams may be a sign that he will explode and decides to take a second look at his boring routine and loveless marriage.

From the very beginning this movie is visually stunning.  The familiar objects, such as the desks in the office, and the normal business attire, juxtaposed with the harsh lighting and drab interior layout immediately set the tone of this movie.  The setting is clearly absurd, but doesn’t appear too distant from reality.  The steam punk eyewear apparatus that George casually puts on in the first few minutes quickly reinforces the idea that the world around him is skewed.  The back- and- forth of close up and wide angle shots keep the viewer aware of Georges world while closely examining his own reactions to it.  The slow and subtle increase in the use of natural light in this film is wonderful.  The soft natural light is used to gradually expose the true human nature that seems completely absent when this awkwardly dull vision of forthcoming times is first introduced.

This film is hilarious despite its dreary atmosphere.  People literally explode randomly throughout the film, which simply never gets old.   The reoccurring salutation “fuck you” accompanied by the middle finger is somehow hilarious amongst the emotionless personalities of the Jeffers corporate world.  The hilarious Jeffers logo, which features skyscrapers in the formation of the middle finger, is peppered in throughout the movie providing plenty of laughs.  The logo also serves as a simple visual representation of the overarching notions in this movie about corporate structure in the real world. 

Supporting characters like “Roger the Codger (George’s personal life coach), “Mack Luster”(think Fabio meets Rambo) and Michelle (George’s insane Wife) are simply over the top ridiculous and balance the austerity of this barely far fetched environment.  Georges secret love interest and superior, Charisma, adds virtually the only warm element to this story by showing him a glimpse of a simpler life outside of the Jeffers sphere.  Galifianakis’ delivery of George is absolutely perfect.  This is not typical Zach playing himself.  He really breaks out into a range of emotions with this character by showing small increments of seemingly genuine emotion throughout this performance.  This showcases Galifianakis true multidimensional talent.

Whether you are a fan of the genre or of Zach Galifianakis you should see this film.   This work manages to deliver a melancholy existence in a way that evokes every emotion imaginable.  Anyone who sees this is sure to elicit a genuine emotive response that may have him or her questioning their own state of affairs.