IMITATIONS (2016)
Full disclosure: I am friends with the filmmakers of this short. However, I have pointed out criticisms of their films in past reviews but I am also genuinely a fan of their work.
Oh, Canada. Whether it’s David Cronenberg, Atom Egoyan, or even The Kids In The Hall—the nation’s artists have a penchant for smuggling bugfuck insanity into any genre and making it all work to hilarious and horrific results. 2016’s IMITATIONS comes from the Winnipeg collective of Markus Milos Ian Fabian (Markus Henkel, Milos Mitrovic, Ian Bawa, and Fabian Velasco) and is a terrific short film that is bizarre and fun and creepy and so much more.
Winnipeg is a breeding ground for incredibly singular filmmakers that love playing with genre and format in experimental ways that still entertains and works on a narrative level. Manitoba has given us Guy Maddin, Matthew Rankin, and Astron-6 collective, amongst others. Hell, Winnipeg was practically the only place on Earth that recognized and celebrated the brilliance of PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE upon its release and kept it playing theaters for a very long time.
Markus Milos Ian Fabian continue that tradition in their short films (as well as their individual works like TAPEWORM and STRONG SON), and it is on full display in IMITATIONS. It’s a gloriously outlandish ~10 minutes that is unsettling, dark, sweet, and incredibly funny. Also, the music in it is really catchy and delivered perfectly. In addition to the filmmakers appearing in the short, there’s also two members of Astron-6: Conor Sweeney as pop sensation Austin Kelsey and Matthew Kennedy (MANBORG himself) reprising his Divorced Dad role in tremendous fashion.
Official Synopsis:
Austin Kelsey is the most popular singer in the world. His new hit single, ‘21 Year Old Baby', has the world in a frenzy as the diaper wearing, baby loving, teen pop star rides his wave of success up the music charts. After getting plastic surgery to look more like the famous pop star, an introverted super fan named Arnold decides to go on a night on the town to celebrate his new Austin Kelsey-like face. Very quickly, things become strange for Arnold…
Enjoy IMITATIONS and try not to have “21 Year Old Baby” stuck in your head for the next two weeks.