Best Mobile Movie of the Year 2018: "Robot Attack"

Written by: Murray Suid

We should put quotation marks around “Best.” We know that—objectively speaking—there is no “best” movie or best anything. The designation always reflects the values of the person or organization making the claim. To paraphrase Margaret Wolfe Hungerford–who originated the phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”—the best mobile movie of the year 2018 is in the eyes of the editors of this magazine. If you disagree with our choice, we hope you will tell us in the comments section.

When we were trying to make our pick, we considered many factors: story, acting, cinematography, visual effects, locations, and sound. We also wanted to acknowledge a film that confirms the idea that just about anything filmic can be done using mobile movie technology. Lucky for us, we had thirteen strong finalists. The fact that they came from nine countries—and four continents—suggests that mobile moviemaking is truly an international phenomenon.

Enough preliminaries. Our choice as the Best Mobile Movie of the Year 2018 is “Robot Attack,” a sci fi thriller by Canadian Brian Vowles. While most mobile movies tell their stories with few or no visual effects, Vowles demonstrates that those who want to emulate Hollywood can achieve what George Lucas called “industrial light and magic.” Entering an apocalyptic world, two young boys encounter a huge, very nasty robot. If you don’t happen to live in a place of ruined buildings and wastelands, you’ll value the how-to-do-it secrets that the director shares in the interview accompanying his movie. If you want to go deeper, take a look at a split screen “Film Nerd Edition” of the movie that lets you compare reality with the world that the director imagined and brought to life. But there’s more to “Robot Attack” than visual effects. We were astonished by the artful composition, the performances of the young actors, the sound design, and the editing. Maybe it won’t be a big surprise to learn that this movie took Vowles four years to complete.

The other 12 finalists on our list of memorable mobile movies deserve comment. In alphabetical order, here we go:

97 Seconds: science fiction by Ren Thackham (Australia). In the tradition of “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Princess Bride,” and “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” this intense tale of artificial intelligence employs the story-within-a-story narrative structure…ending with a surprising twist.

Copier Coller: comedy by Benjamin Lapierre and Alexandre Gaudou (France). Moviemakers never get tired of the trick of having an actor play multiple roles or even twins as in Tom Hardy’s recent film “Legend,” in which he plays twin gangsters. But Lapierre and Gaudou make the case that Hollywood shouldn’t monopolize this genre. As they explain in the interview accompanying this nightmarish comedy, duplicating an actor takes work and some clever staging. But it’s definitely doable in the world of mobile moviemaking.

Focus: docu-drama by Brian Hennings (Australia). Many classic films—such as “Sunset Blvd.” and “Blade Runner” have used the first-person point of view. The originality of Hennings’ movie is that the device lets us experience the protagonist’s experience of losing her sight while maintaining her sense of dignity and self-worth.

Intermission: science fiction by Jacob Givens (United States). In this tale of a space traveler who is teleported to the wrong planet, the director Givens does double duty as the star. The film offers lessons on a variety of filmic issues including location scouting, props, shot variety, and voice-over.

lo-fang’s #88: music video by Lilian Manansala (United States). This dance recital staged in a Los Angeles playground is the film to watch if you’re interested in the art of guerrilla moviemaking. Following the fadeout, Manansala appends a few outtakes that serve as cautionary lessons for shooting in an uncontrolled location.

Memoire de los Pairs: drama by Brice Veneziano (France). The challenge of development is magnified enormously when you have only 60 seconds to tell your story. In the first half of this movie, after the protagonist appears, a dramatic sound cue causes her to remember the horror of the Bataclan massacre (Paris, 2015). At that point, the movie might have ended, but to deepen the emotions, Veneziano introduces a passerby whose unawareness of the significance of the location contrasts with—and thereby magnifies— the protagonist’s grief.

Miranda: thriller by Blake Calhoun (United States). If you want to make a high-concept picture but don’t have money to hire scores of filmmaking associates, this taut 4-minute drama can serve as an inspiring textbook. The movie showcases an amazing variety of filmmaking ingredients—including powerful close-ups, flashbacks, and parallel action presented in split screen—all of which was accomplished by a two-person crew.

Murmuring Goodbye: drama by Simon Powell (United Kingdom). Sound pictures emerged in 1927 and revolutionized film storytelling. Yet almost a century later, we have silent movies—such as “Murmuring Goodbye” that remind us that high drama can be achieved without words. The lesson is worth learning because silent (wordless) sequences often play crucial roles in talking movies.

Not for Sale: public service announcement (PSA) by Adebayo Okeowo (South Africa). Message films do not have to be cerebral. In this 60-second plea for justice, human rights lawyer Adebayo Okeowo delivers a memorable story with astonishing emotional impact.

Polaroid: horror by Inchun Ho (South Korea). A young woman out for a day of shooting stunning scenery with her Polaroid-like camera discovers that each shot she takes is a strange and unwanted selfie. Director Ho creates a mounting sense of horror without dialogue or blood.

The Refugee Baker: news feature by Philip Bromwell (Ireland). A pioneer of mobile journalism and celebrated for his many mini-docs broadcast on Irish television, Bromwell demonstrates the use of close-ups, voice over, and compact storytelling.

You and I: love story by Syed Ahmad Afzal (India). Voice over is a proven technique for making low-budget movies that have high production values. Having actors speak their lines off camera simplifies the shoot while giving the director and actors a great amount of control. A professional with three features to his credit, Afzal’s innovative leap in this two-person drama is to use voice over for both characters.

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Festivals

We discovered many of these terrific mobile movies at film festivals around the world. Most of the festivals are devoted exclusively to mobile moviemaking. If you want to discover more about the innovative art of mobile moviemaking, a good place to start would be to visit the following websites: Accolade Global Film Competition, Cinephone Film Festival, FiLMiC Pro One WorldFilm Contest, Global Mobile Film Awards, International Mobile Film Festival, Mina Mobile Film Festival, Mobile Film Festival, Mobile Motion Film Festival, MoJo Fest, Smartfone Flick Fest, Toronto Smart Film Festival, and YouTube Creators for Change

Filmmaking Resources

While frugality and simplicity are part of what is propelling the mobile moviemaking movement, most of the filmmakers go beyond the naked device, employing state-of-the-art but usually modestly priced apps and gear. In the following list some of the suppliers are affiliates of MobileMovieMaking.com, but all of the recommendations come from the filmmakers.