Event

I-Be Area

Director Ryan Trecartin's second feature is a frightening and jubilant vision of aspirational consumerism and self-branding run amok. The convergence of the cloning and adoption industries sets the stage for a hilariously incisive movie that cuts to the dark roots of post-whatever life while preserving the shining hope of uniquely creative expression.

A baby: the ultimate project. Everyone wants their own, from a cabal of New Ohio lesbians to a genderless mixed media consultant in Old New Jersey. The bundle of joy is a bridge to future, but why only think ahead? Tabula rasa can bear the imprint of a perfect NOW, as a customized incarnation of ideas, ambitions and style choices... sublime, and very marketable.

An ensemble cast of shifting, splintered identities resists and exploits the existential friction caused by occupying physical and virtual spaces at the same time. This logic twirls the movie's fiendishly tortuous narrative, but is rooted in present day reality.

If the story revolves around any one character it is I-Be2, a clone seeking its ideal personality. All strands of I-Be2's journey lead to Jamie's Area, "a kind of bedroom-classroom-drama-department-blog-space-internet- community-site" belonging to a pregnant dictator. The armageddon hatched there unravels the systems of identity, time and space built up throughout the film, and opens a numbing vortex where total freedom seems, finally, possible.

You're the reason for the roof over my head, the stars in my sky, the world in my money, in my money.... Stealing from our mom is crazy but we're just going to like memorize this like it's a memory and it's gonna be great.... Life Reproduc- tions: on top of shit, always in the moment. Always. Always. Always. Right now! We show you your lifebut better- with edits!... We're going to make a jail, an amazing jail for him.... That's right, I-Be, I be the original. I be you, you be... me, you. Get into your new independence, OK?
- from I-Be Area