Produced by Ridley Scott Associates

Five very different films. One piece of dialogue.

Bravo, Phillips for coming up with one of the best marketing maneuvers I’ve seen this side of BMW. (I love The Hire and own the DVD.) Not only did they commission the five short films comprising Parallel Lines to help showcase their new Cinema 21:9 LCD TV, but they also put a very specific constraint on the project. The directors involved (commercial and music video auteurs) could create whatever their hearts desired in whatever medium (from live action to animation), but they had to use the same exact six lines of dialogue in sequence. And it’s not some banal “Hello, how are you?” either. This conversation has some meat to it to add another layer that helps get those creative juices flowing.

“What is that?”
“It’s a unicorn.”
“Never seen one up close before.”
“Beautiful.”
“Get away. Get away.”
“I’m sorry.”

One might think the use of the word “unicorn” would be somewhat limiting, but the talent involved brush all fears aside by creating five completely unique entities that bear no resemblance to each other. Only one actually has what could be a real mythical creature and only three go so far as to show their stand-in for that beast.

The beauty of language is that you can weave any word or phrase to fit whatever meaning you desire. The beauty of cinema is that you can dream up visuals to make those words pop. By visually representing the unicorn in five disparate worlds, our handle on the meaning of those lines becomes fresh and uninhibited by the short we saw previously. You truly can go from one to the other and appreciate them as a series and separate cinematic gems stamped by their creators.

The Hunt

Rating: NR | Runtime: 3 minutes
Release Date: April 8th, 2010 (UK)
Director(s): Jake Scott
Writer(s): Jake Scott

You couldn’t get this endeavor going with producing help from the Scott brothers and not have someone in the family direct an installment. While I’ve yet to see his debut feature, I have watched his short Tooth Fairy for Amazon.com and enjoyed it. It’s good to see the second generation starting to come into their own with sister Jordan’s debut Cracks and Jake’s own Welcome to the Rileys getting good press this year.

As for the short at-hand, The Hunt takes the most literal approach to the words and is a good starting point for the series. Two hunters are hot on the trail of something in the woods wherein the action turns from majestic wilderness to glassy, first-person anger on behalf of the would-be victim only after we discover their prey is a unicorn. Scott’s tonal shift is earned and helps end the serene story on a great note of violence.

Darkroom

Rating: NR | Runtime: 5 minutes
Release Date: April 8th, 2010 (UK)
Director(s): Johnny Hardstaff
Writer(s): Johnny Hardstaff

This may be my favorite entry as far as visuals are concerned. Reminiscent of the computer-enhanced one-shots that fill Gaspar Noé’s Enter the Void, Darkroom is a continuous zoom from a voyeur alone in his room in some Asian city full of large apartment complexes and neon lights. Starting behind the character we soon inhabit, it’s what he’s looking at through his camera’s viewfinder that becomes our vision inside the film. The lens is equipped with huge magnifiers and we are shortly soaring across the street and into the room of a total stranger.

This is the point where my one qualm comes in because the image soon rotates side to side—an impossibility since the camera itself isn’t in the room. Looking past that, however, you’ll see an otherwise meticulous attention to detail. The focus change when zooming is authentic. The electronic hash marks from the camera are superimposed. And the ability to clearly make out action from the reflection of a metal lamp is, for lack of a better phrase, very cool. The whole thing is cyclical, quite dark, and gorgeous in its seediness on the urban fringe.

The Gift

Rating: NR | Runtime: 5 minutes
Release Date: April 8th, 2010 (UK)
Director(s): Carl Erik Rinsch
Writer(s): Carl Erik Rinsch

Carl Erik Rinsch is a Scott protégé and was the first choice (albeit passed over) to direct the in-production Alien prequel. Watching The Gift proves it with obvious similarities to the brilliantly conceived shorts that Neill Blomkamp made before his Halo film slipped through his fingers and he made a splash with District 9 instead.

Set in Russia, the tale follows a messenger as he brings a mysterious box to what I can only assume is an important dignitary or man of great wealth. Murder is soon involved as we’re taken on a well-orchestrated chase sequence with a full squad of police cars pursuing the recipient of the gift’s robotic servant. The animation is clean and the Orwellian world depicted is great in its sterility. With the most fleshed out story of this quintet, word on the street is that studios have already approached Rinsch to expand it to feature length.

El Secreto de Mateo

Rating: NR | Runtime: 4 minutes
Release Date: April 8th, 2010 (UK)
Director(s): Greg Fay
Writer(s): Greg Fay

This Spanish-language entry has the most heart out of the group with El Secreto de Mateo seeing two young children (a boy and girl) walking through a rundown apartment building while light is utilized for interesting glares and contrast. The girl has a drooping eye that doesn’t see straight—her blindness inferred with close-ups as the two enter a room at the end of a hallway. The boy is protective of his companion (presumably his sister) and leads her towards an animal he says is a unicorn. Her pure joy and warmth in petting it hits home as the girl imagines that truth while her hands feel the creature’s soft coat of hair.

Jun and the Hidden Skies

Rating: NR | Runtime: 4 minutes
Release Date: April 8th, 2010 (UK)
Director(s): Hi-Sim (Chris Hawkes & Chuen Hung Tsang)
Writer(s): Hi-Sim (Chris Hawkes & Chuen Hung Tsang)

The lone fully animated film included, Jun and the Hidden Skies is attributed to Hi-Sim Studios (Chris Hawkes & Chuen Hung Tsang). Dealing with a little boy and a cardboard vehicle created in his attic, we’re soon transported into his fantastical adventures through space aboard it with a young girl and her pet bunny.

Dangerous robotic spacecrafts attempt to shoot him down and kidnap the girl, eventually leaving Jun to be saved by a fire-breathing dragon that takes him to their mothership to find her. The animation is a little rough, but the story is a solid, cute journey through the imagination of children. It’s definitely a nice lighthearted conclusion to the series and a good way to exit the Phillips world.

I hope this is just the first of many intriguing projects from the electronics brand since having their own website devoted to this online cinema makes me believe future work could be uploaded. It’s an ambitious attempt to drum up publicity while also giving young creatives an outlet to showcase their talents. I think it has done its job well too because this ultra-widescreen machine might top my list the next time I need a new TV.