[moved to piefed] movies

For anyone unfamiliar with Neil Breen’s work, I don’t know whether to feel sorry for you or shield you from the baffling peculiarity of his films that demand to be endlessly mocked but are somehow still entertaining. Breen has declared himself as “the most independent filmmaker in the world” on his website, making a questionable name for himself through his extremely low-budget films that he writes, directs, edits, produces and stars in, also often taking on most of the crew roles himself. When watching the credits roll, it is rarer to see a name on there that isn’t his.

But regardless of his reluctance to collaborate, the man has undeniable joie de vivre. Despite the very public ridiculing of his work, they have built up their own unique fanbase, with people enjoying them for this very reason.

Breen funds all of his projects himself, which is evident in the low production value of the films. His movies are known for their extensive (and I mean extensive) use of the green screen, with nearly every other shot containing an AI-looking image with superimposed and comically out-of-place footage of Breen walking through spaceships and leisurely strolling through violent explosions. The special effects are either extremely minimal or barely existent, making use of the term ‘creative license’ as we’re encouraged to broaden our minds when watching, mentally filling in the gaps that Breen has left on screen.

The plots are often centred around global catastrophes, exploring corporate cover-ups, evil government plots and pesky scientists with too much power. Breen, unsurprisingly, always plays the hero, writing in noticeably much younger love interests for himself and an all-knowing ability that only he possesses to save the world from mass destruction. We watch him leap from burning buildings (or see an image of himself that is unceremoniously animated to move from one point of the screen to the other), hack into heavily protected cyberspaces and or gain mysterious supernatural abilities.

The dialogue is fairly sparse and isn’t performed very well. His films feel like what the future of filmmaking will look like if artificial intelligence takes over; it’s very stilted, stiff and honestly ridiculous. But because it was all eagerly made by one man and his unwavering vision, it’s somehow quite entertaining. It has the same core as a bad X-Factor audition – you want to look away but can’t quite stop watching it. It’s a car crash in which no one gets hurt.