Creative Control

This smartly written, beautifully filmed, superbly acted independent comedy-drama about modern technology, what we're doing with it and what it's doing to us presents a scathing indictment of modern culture and its questionable effects. When an ad agency is hired to come up with a campaign for computer eyewear with interactive capabilities, the organization puts its best man, David (Benjamin ****), on the account. To learn about the product, David tries it out, but the technology's capabilities are so compelling that he quickly loses his capacity for distinguishing what's "real" and what he's created using the product. This creates big issues in his relationships with his girlfriend (Nora Zehetner) and a co-worker (Alexia Rasmussen) with whom he's become obsessed. The film's wry but relevant metaphysical underpinnings give us pause to think about what we're creating and what we're becoming as a result of it. Actor/writer/director Benjamin ****, a bona fide rising star, offers up an insightful picture whose thoughtful messages are delivered with incisive humor in a gorgeous, ironic package that definitely deserves wide exposure.

The movie where at least naming your movie with the word 'creative' somewhere in your title and a scratchy plot with satisfactory acting is actually inventive.