Spike Jonze’s I’m Here – Our search for the Absolut screening

My Wife and I were lucky enough to be invited to a special screening of Spike Jonze’s new short film presented by Absolut Vodka. It recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. A splendid night and a great little movie. My Wife kindly wrote about the experience so now over to her.

‘I’m Here’ it is called but we couldn’t find out where Here was! We had arrived at our destination; courtesy of the Sat Nav but felt it was lying to us given the fact that we were just in the middle of a road with little idea of where to go next. Driving on we came across an NCP car park and promptly parked the car in order to peruse our surroundings. Leaving the comfort of our car we stepped out into the cold, damp night air in search of clues as to the whereabouts of the venue.

Hand in hand we began our search through the unfamiliar territory, partygoers and revellers alike adding to the buzz and surreal feel of the evening. Like two private detectives we eventually stumbled upon a very strong lead. Looking up to the top of the multi storey car park we noticed something strange was afoot. The top floor appeared to be shrouded in secrecy with strange moving silhouettes within. Curious, we quickly returned to our car and began the climb to the top floor. We had to abandon the safe haven of our car two floors below due to barriers and so embarked on foot up the somewhat sinister feeling staircase. Having arrived at the anticipated level we hesitantly opened the door to discover a busy huddle of people at the far end of the room, visible thanks to the strategically placed blue lights that sent strobes of eerie colour into the vast space; the cold air meeting the warm beams with a haunting fog like effect. Our search had come to a close, we were Here!

Unfortunately we were unfashionably early and were promptly instructed to return to the outside of the car park where we would meet a man who would give us a token. We decided to leave our car where it was parked and take the many stairs that led to the outside. Having only walked down two flights of stairs we were obstructed by what seemed to be a very unsavoury character that was sprawled on the stairs. We gingerly stopped behind the man, unsure whether to ask if we could be allowed access in case that prompted some form of confrontation. The vagrant then turned and looked at us and in a very well spoken voice asked ‘will you be okay getting through there guys?’ ‘Errr, yes thanks’ we replied. This night was getting stranger by the minute.

Mrs Live For Films

On our return to the venue we were met with a very different scene. Walking through a corridor walled with bookcases and a bubble wrap floor we popped our way to the Absolut vodka bar. Having secured our free vodka cocktails we then proceeded to take in the transformation. The room was blanketed in blue light with a synthetic grass green floor equipped with strategically placed brown boxes. There were many screens on scaffolding along with a huge cinema type screen at the top of the room. Before the screening began mattresses sprung out of the boxes, much to the delight of the chosen guests and quickly inflated to provide adequate seating for everyone.

The ambience was one of sitting in a park on a cold winters night huddled up to a loved one to keep warm. So here we were, sitting at the top of a multi storey car park feeling privileged to have been given the opportunity to see a preview of the film.

‘I’m Here’ is a story of love between two robots (voiced by Andrew Garfield and Sienna Guillory). It is a strangely beautiful depiction of how the power of love can make someone sacrifice everything in order to keep what he or she holds dear. Even though the main characters are machines, the clever way in which they are portrayed, along with the struggles they face, leaves you engaging with the characters. Yes, the storyline is somewhat bizarre and exaggerated but this does not detract from the emotion evoked. The film is less than 30 minutes long so it would be easy to give too much away and spoil the surprise. Needless to say it is another triumph from Spike Jonze and will surely appeal to many.

Thanks to Marcus at We Are Social for the invite.

The film goes live for everyone to see in March 2010. Sign up at the official I’m Here site.