Diagonaldi Very well executed

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Sexylocher Masterful Movie

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

tinybookworm I watched the film at home. All by myself, in darkness and with headphones on. What an extraordinary experience. Strange Factories draws you into the story, it feels like a dream, something you cannot escape without going through it. The sounds and images creep into your soul. It shook my very own reality, left me in awe and in tears, searching for my own truth. It only scratched on the surface during watching the film. Afterwards it worked through me for weeks, questioning myself in a positive way. It awakens something, something that has been buried inside me a long time ago and wants to get out. I'm not going into the story as I think everyone should experience this incredible piece of art on its own. I've seen the film multiple times now and every experience is different and opens another door. Thank you FoolishPeople! I can't wait to see what more is to come.

carlok I was not in a theater so I can't write about the "immersive" experience: this lines are just about the film itself. I think that a clear narrative structure was not a goal, here. Keeping straight to the meaning is the main duty of a director. Strange Factories is a surreal film so, in my opinion, the purpose was driving the audience to a given feeling and, more or less, a given state of mind. For me, being a very low budget (first) feature film, the final result has been achieved. A few notes on the product. Acting: yes, many actors and sometimes actresses wear a mask but I found their acting effective for the surreal mission. Cinematography: in my humble opinion, even though they shot in digital, black&white was mandatory for the purpose of this feature... there are a few out of focus or dark scenes but, overall, it works. Editing: it flows and that counts, of course. The "surrealism" is almost reached with acting, directing and music, just a little using editing. Music/Sound: yes, they are essential to reach a given state of mind and they get it. Do they really need a huge name like Mozart? I don't think so: it does not need extra power from a giant, it could work by itself.

squidseye Strange Factories as staged at the Cinema Museum is a hybrid film/immersive theatre experience that addresses the nature of the creative process and how the artist's creation possesses an existence independently of the artist. The experience begins in the queue outside, where actors in masks instruct audience members to be silent during the performance, and inspect and tease them, priming them for what happens inside. The audience is then split into two groups which once inside are introduced to a number of characters in immersive theatre style, invited to consider their role in the performance, plied with (sham) drinks at a bar and participate in a seance-like ceremony. There was plenty of personal interaction in the viewing I attended, with an audience of nine, though I expect this will vary considerably with the size of the audience. Much of the action takes place in the dark, and the spooky atmosphere throughout is skilfully maintained.The audience is then invited to sit down to watch the film. This to me is where the serious problems I had with the production begin. The film follows Victor Stronheim and a cast of largely forgettable and interchangeable characters around as he agonises over a play he has written. Boundaries between the worlds of Stronheim, his characters, the audience in the film and the actual audience are blurred, and Stronheim is forced to stage his play to get out of a predicament whose nature is obfuscated by the frankly tedious goings-on. In some scenes the film appears to taunt the audience with dialogue such as (I'm paraphrasing, from memory) 'How much longer can this possibly go on?' and 'The audience is desperate for this to end'. The film's final scene is played out simultaneously on screen and onstage with the same actors. This is followed by a dance and final theatrical scene, after which the audience is led out of the building.I found the production as a whole unengaging, shallow and the film section overlong. My feeling is that Strange Factories could work as an immersive theatre piece, or as a ten minute art film playing in a gallery, but is too insubstantial for its near three hour running time. My immediate impression was of a company that has become insular and immersed itself too completely in a work. John Harrigan writes, directs and stars, and perhaps this singular vision needs some editorial oversight. An artist creates and has no obligation to cater for a particular, or indeed any audience. However, when the medium is film or theatre, the production is made to be witnessed. To be fair, Strange Factories doesn't appear to be widely publicised and I only heard about it as an existing fan of the Facebook page of Foolish people's previous production, the very enjoyable A Virulent Experience. Perhaps if the film had attempted to develop its characters or had adhered to a more conventional narrative style it might have engaged sufficiently for me to give a fair consideration of its themes. I am sure I was not alone in not getting it, as two other audience members walked out shortly into the film. The immersive theatre was somewhat enjoyable, but it is dragged down by the ponderous film.

neilmccomb It was such a wonderful experience and I would hate to be the one to lessen the depth of experience felt by any of you when, as I hope you will, you decide to go yourselves. So I will try to transmit why it is so exciting without ruining the surprise. Easy.The narrative of the night follows an Author searching for an ending to his story. Victor, the writer, is drawn to a settlement founded by the mysterious Stronheim where he finds his friends waiting for him. Victor makes a pact with Stronheim who offers to rebuild his theatre so long as Victor finishes his story, in the way that it should be finished.From the beginning (before the beginning actually) the audience members are separated and made to question their position as passive spectators and their pre-conceived notions of what watching a film means. This unusual and dislocating process prefigures a whirlwind experience designed to disorientate and delight you. You move in and around the set as the plot moves and swirls around you. The experience is unbalancing but wonderful.The underlying theme of the whole night is about storytelling and art. What is the creative impulse and how does it manifest itself? Why do stories seem to exist outside the mind of the artist, like an elemental force that is tapped by different people at different times but that is always the controlling force in the relationship? As the tension rises and the haunting lunacy unravels in front of you, you are forced to confront the destructive nature of art.The surroundings of the Cinema Museum in Elephant and Castle is apt not just for its amazing hive-like building. Strange Factories questions the role of the modern audience by evoking the early days of the moving image when performances were just that, performance. The whole experience brings to mind a Lumière brothers screening that somehow involves a company of Commedia dell'arte players.I found the entire night an inspiring and beautiful experience from start to finish. It felt like a hundred different storytelling techniques were used, drawn from the past few centuries and woven together to explore the age old questions of what art is. I was captivated from the beginning and the ballet crescendo struck a perfect end note to evening that felt like one long dance. It was fitting that a night celebrating the early days of the moving image should be so truly magical.