Let’s imagine that “Everything you wanted to know about sex…” was rewritten by the screenwriters of “Movie 43” and directed by Gaspar Noé and Wes Andersen, keeping intact the humour and irony of Woody Allen. Sounds interesting? Then ‘UNCENSORED (THE BEAUTIFUL BUTTER PLAYGROUND)‘ is the short film you should not miss. It is true that such an experimental project is not made for too rigid viewers. In fact, it is a short film that pushes the limits of cinematic syntax and challenges you not only by its heterogeneous composition but also by the audacity with which Noah Ottersen Parker attacks the conventionalism of the “civilized” society of today.
More precisely, the director proposes a kind of cynical kaleidoscope-poem, a succession of micro-scenarios bordering on the absurd about the collective madness, about the norms that force you to the point where everything explodes. The project turns into a frantic outburst within a succession of uncertain spaces, alternating social contexts with almost dreamlike settings, populated by bizarre characters acting like disordered machines. In this vibrant universe seemingly touched by a generalized Tourette syndrome, the director’s eye scrutinizes everyday conventions and rituals with picaresque irony and “devilish” indiscretion. It is almost impossible to find an internal logic in all this energetic and kinetic detonation of images, sounds, colours, and sometimes neurotic gestures. And this is perhaps the most attractive part of it.
As in a surreal bacchanal that recycles disparate fragments of the social jungle around (and inside) us, Noah Ottersen Parker’s project takes you by surprise with its hypnotic structure and exuberant deconstructive fervour. We are faced not only with a comedy about unleashed human nature but also with a short film that, in fact, subtly questions the mechanisms of cinematic illusion in an age when many claim that the seventh art is dying. In other words, ‘UNCENSORED (THE BEAUTIFUL BUTTER PLAYGROUND)’ is a kind of “mise en abime” of film genres (from thriller to animation or musical), but also a sore x-ray of how, day by day, we become spectators of our own madness.
For the courage and professionalism with which the director depicts in a fascinating frenzy a chronicle of everyday madness, ‘UNCENSORED (THE BEAUTIFUL BUTTER PLAYGROUND)’ was awarded with the Film of the Month distinction in the June 2022 edition of TMFF.
TMFF RATING:
