Able Edwards (2004) User Reviews

"Citizen Clone"

[Jneil · 7/10 · 14 June 2007]

I think it would be the rare independent filmmaker these days who hasn't fantasized about how it would be possible to bypass the necessity of building sets, going on location, and long shooting schedules -- in other words, all the things that aren't a problem for a high-budget studio film but are for shoestring indie productions -- by the expedient of shooting the actors entirely on a green screen stage and compositing everything else digitally.

Able Edwards did it, and you know what? For the most part it really works.

Yes, some of the seams show -- but so what? You can look at classic movies like Casablanca and North by Northwest and see where the old process shots weren't entirely convincing. As long as there's a good story being conveyed by good acting and directing, an audience is willing to play along and suspend their disbelief. If they didn't, nobody today would have a clue who Aristophanes or Shakespeare was.

The character of Able Edwards is part Walt Disney, part Howard Hughes, part Orson Welles's and Herman J. Mankiewicz's fictitious Charles Foster Kane--who in turn was based on the real-life William Randolph Hearst. Able Edwards story plays with the mythology of Walt Disney being frozen by having Edwards' frozen remains cloned, then -- in an homage to Ira Levin's The Boys from Brazil -- groomed to restore the legacy of the original.

The comic irony of Able Edwards is the juxtaposition of its method --which is the creation of a virtual reality -- with its theme -- that in a world in which all entertainment is virtual, the public will crave a return to entertainment based on the infinite nuances of reality.

Both Able Edwards and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow were made in 2004 using the total green-screen virtual technique. But Able Edwards was made for $30 thousand and Sky Captain for $40 million. The thing is, Sky Captain cost a thousand times as much as Able Edwards but only looks about twice as good -- and I found both movies not all that far apart in entertainment value. Digital media and production is to making movies what Colt firearms were to the Old West--the great equalizer.

Full disclosure requires me to reveal that I heard about this movie because its title actor, Scott Kelly Galbreath, also played in a movie I directed. Scott is a fine actor in both this movie and mine, and, the fates willing, I predict a big career ahead of him.

I hope this movie ends up on TV --either premium cable or network. It deserves to be much better known. Meanwhile, I bought my DVD from Amazon.com, which means you can, too -- and I recommend that you do.

A must see for digital independent filmmakers

[migcoyula · 4 November 2006]

Able Edwards is a great microcinema achievement. The story is set in a 1950s-looking B&W near-future where earth has become inhabitable. Space colonies float around the earth's orbit. Deceased Media Tycoon Abel Edwards (An inspired mix between Walt Disney and Charles Foster Kane) is brought to life in the form of a clone sampled from the original mogul's body as a desperate attempt from the Edwards Corporation to regain the falling empire's glory.

This is basically a 21st century rework on Citizen Kane's story line with sci-fi overtones, introducing the theme of cloning, shot entirely against a green screen against still photography backgrounds (many scanned from a public library) and some occasional 3-D CGI. Sin City's fans will be inspired by the fact that you can actually shoot a whole epic in your living room.

However, don't expect Hollywood FX hyperrealist environments, fancy camera moves, or baroque compositions. Director Graham Roberson purposely chose to do every single shot (even those which could have easily been made on location), with a green screen channeled background (whether still photographs, live action footage or CGI). You might say that at times the movie's mise en scene feels static: Some extra layers of compositing (and extra months of work in post) could have added more depth in making some of the photo backgrounds more lively, or create the impression that the camera moves a little more.

However this does not detract at all from the story, on the contrary, it might even help it: The result is a prosthetic, unrealistic, yet harmonious, solid and consistent atmosphere that blends very well with the charming 1950s B&W look and epic feel of the piece.

The acting complements the mood with effective performances from the whole cast. Scott Kelly Galbreath (Abel Edwards) manages to transport us to another era with his square jaw and Errol Flynn-esquire mustache. Everything here is at the service of conveying an entertaining story that despite the grandeur of the sci-fi aura, deals with the human condition and the concept of individuality: Is the clone going to behave the way the company has conditioned him to be? Or will he develop his own character?

The film was executive produced by Steven Sodenbergh, who basically donated his Canon XL-1 and Mac G-4 from Full Frontal. It's easy to see why the project caught his attention. Unlike many low budget sci-fi, this is not so much about the special effects or the action, but about concentrating on telling a engrossing story. Some might say that it follows way too closely that of Citizen Kane to develop its own voice, but I find much more interesting and fresh to imitate the storyline of Kane than that of Star Wars or Halloween. Besides this has the twist cloning, which adds a whole new dimension and makes the character unique.

If you love movies you will truly enjoy Able Edwards, as it is an inspiring achievement.

You'll notice the artifice more than the art

[dbborroughs · 4/10 · 8 November 2008]

Story of the life and times of Abel Edwards, or more to the point his clone. The original Edwards was a Walt Disney like film maker/business man who died on the eve of the opening of his Florida theme park. decades later, after mankind has moved into space when a deadly virus reduced human population by 90% the Abel Edwards corporation is floundering. In an effort to get back on track they decide to clone their founder and so begins the life and times of the clone. We watch in flashback the life of the clone Edwards as his life is recounted at a probate hearing concerning his wealth and company.

this off beat film with echoes of Disney and Citizen Kane was shot entirely on green screen sets. The fact that I'm recounting that first kind of tells you I'm not particularly fond of the film, since there isn't much to say beyond that. An okay film, that is almost bland. This is the life of a man who is not his own, it's an interesting concept but it never really amounts to much with the story kind or arcing in ways that you can kind of predict. It doesn't help that the green screen sets are unevenly handled and while their use clearly allowed for the film to be made cheaply, the effect is far from realistic.The effect is similar to several films released to DVD by Alpha Video under their New Cinema banner rather than things like Sky Captain, Immortal or any other film shot similarly, However you forgive cheapness in the Alpha titles since they somehow make it charming and here they really don't.

Despite some occasionally beautiful black and white images this really doesn't have much to recommend it and given the choice I'd take a pass.(I somehow think that with out Steven Soderbergh's name attached as a producer this film would have been buried)

A movie I've waited for,And didn't know it !

[guestar57 · 8/10 · 4 May 2007]

ABLE EDWARDS

www.myspace.com/ableedwards This film is amazing and peeked my interest when I heard clone and Disneyesque in a blurb .As a young boy I had heard Walt Disney died,I knew his Imagineers would not let the old man go that way.I figured he was frozen next to L.Ron Hubbard and Howard Hughes,Please tell me you had'nt thought of this after hearing about Ted Williams. The digital/green screen process is quite a suspension of belief, But you are glad when you see some of AE park attractions. The sci-fi part is almost a stepping off to remake Citizen Kane,But that would cheapen what has been accomplished with this great film…Yes, FILM-No matter what medium .

The cast would be of no OOh-Ah, But If its good enough for Steven Soderbergh to produce,Hell Im in ! You will enjoy this movie, Its much more successful at the COMPLETE green screen effort than anything from Hollywood, And a great story to boot.

Destined for cult status

[trashmag · 8/10 · 19 June 2007]

Like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow or Sin City, Able Edwards was shot entirely with actors performing against a green screen, with the sets and backgrounds added in digitally later. This was the first film to use that technique, and although the budget is far less than Sky Captain or Sin City, the results are nearly as impressive.

More importantly, though, Able Edwards has a great story to tell. That story is set in a future where mankind has had to abandon the earth to live in an orbiting space station. On board the station,the Edwards Corporation has long ago abandoned their roots in the entertainment business for manufacturing androids, but their profits are stagnating. The company decides to clone the titular character, a Walt Disney like figure who founded the company decades ago and who, upon his death, was cryogenically frozen. The way the story unfolds is similar to Citizen Kane, as various people who knew the Edwards clone are questioned at a hearing, and occasional fake newsreel footage is also used.

This is an incredibly ambitious film by any standards, but director Graham Robertson pulls it off well. It presents a convincing vision of the future that feels natural rather than drawing attention to itself. Instead of trying to overwhelm the audience with action and special effects, The film is more interested in exploring ideas. Helping Robertson succeed is a great cast of relative unknowns, in particular Scott Kelly Galbreath as the Edwards and his clone, and Keri Bruno as the Edwards clone's wife. My rating is 8 out of 10.

Surprisingly affecting-- and inspiring

[agrafes04 · 16 March 2004]

It takes guts to do way more than you should even try, and talent to make the audience still feel it.

While everyone else at the SXSW festival was at JERSEY GIRL I wandered over and watched ABLE EDWARDS, which was an object lesson in what can be done for $30,000 and some software. This movie has a great script, actors, and sparse sets-and fake backgrounds. That's what you have to get over, moment you walk in. It's a `greenscreen movie,' like Sky Captains, but less polished, because the director and the writer are one guy, Graham Robertson, who decided to do whatever his imagination told him to.

Here's the thing. The movie is basically, `the Disney Corporation clones Walt Disney in the far future to re-invigorate the company, but he instead struggles with his own identity and threatens the company as a whole.' This is a future so far-flung that, a la GUNDAM, mankind lives in vast spaceborn cities circling the planet, which drips with disease and acid rain. And yeah, the special effects are a little shaky-the spaceship effects are not cutting edge. Same thing as the green screen. You can those hallways are projected.

And yet, and yet-hey, I go to a play, I can tell that cityscape is a model behind the window. It's like that. You watch the movie for a few minutes and you don't care. Cause here's the thing-these guys made a movie for peanuts and did what they wanted, and what they wanted turned out to be a clever homage to Citizen Kane. Scott Galbreath plays Able Edwards as if he's channeling Walt Disney himself, the queasily tyrannical, Errol-Flynn-moustached patriarch with a vision and no time for people who don't share it. Watch the way he can fire someone and smile. The idea of the movie is that Able, like Truman in THE TRUMAN SHOW, has been watched his whole life, groomed to take over the company. This means arranging everything that will happen to him (in a nod of sorts to THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL) and creating every emotional travesty. Able throws himself into his corporate role, as expected. And he immediately turns the company upside down, setting out on a vast undertaking that tracks with Disney's fight to create his theme parks. In Able's world, the draw of the parks is their danger-reality has long since been replaced with digital fun, and Able wants an actual big park, with actual animals and gravity-defying rides. As he falls in love with a designer played by Susan Allison, who really seems to have stepped out of a 40s movie here, Able's story becomes-how can I put this-you watch it and one part of your brain is going, `wow, who would have thought you could do the Disney story, Citizen Kane and Boys from Brazil-all in a Space City.' And the other half is forgetting all that and feeling genuinely affected by the tragedies of Edwards' hubris, which are vast and wrenching. I dunno. This movie-if Graham Robertson had thirty million, and not thirty thousand, I'm betting the movie would have looked about a hundred times better. But I'm also betting we would have lots about half the character development and richness of imagination, and that wouldn't really be worth the money. Robertson, a set director who decided to make a movie, has done a great thing-he's let his imagination fly and produced a 90-minute production that for all its technical limitations still affects on an emotional level. Think how easy it might have been to just make a sci-fi film, or to re-film THE ODD COUPLE, which would require no special effects. Robertson just goes for it, and it works. I hope we see more of him.

An unassuming epic that entertains

[ApolloBoy109 · 9/10 · 25 November 2008]

Stumbled across this recently on netflix. In a nutshell, a "Walt Disney" like creator is revived from cold storage via complex cloning to assume control of the company he created over a hundred years ago. The idea alone intrigued me but it was the execution of the tale that floored me. From the acting (flawless) to the script (a tidy tale of "be careful what you wish for you just may get it.")loaded with twists and turns to the outstanding CGI backgrounds that give the film a rich science fiction flavor.

This is a must see for intelligent film fans of science fiction. Add a dash of Citizen Kane, an amusing parody on Disney and the ethical question, is a clone a real person or the property of those who created it.

Abel Edwards will make you believe. And you better believe ten years from now this will achieve cult status.

What a wonderful film!

[eugedavis · 18 May 2004]

If you watch the movie....and let the technical limitations slide (which are few and far between...and I'm guessing here, but some of them seemed

intentional..like the obvious walking in place shots) you can really enjoy this movie. Honestly, I didn't expect to. (A friend dragged me to a screening in Los Angeles.) It's dark and sad but not depressing. There is a mild underscore of humor throughout the piece that is hard to describe...it's almost sinister, definitely self-reflexive and can easily be overlooked. I mean, it's a greenscreen movie, all the backgrounds are fake, everything is simulated ...and there is Able Edwards, the main character, inside this virtual bubble on an ultimately tragic quest to find things that are real. Sometimes you wonder if the filmmaker was trapped inside that same bubble.

It's awesome. I am so impressed. It looks spectacular and it's a great story with great acting.

I would buy this film

Green-screen delight~

[reviewrrr · 17 March 2005]

If you haven't seen a picture done with green-screen, see this film. I just saw it at the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose. Visually the black and white moody, gauzy tones were so mesmerizing. The story was great - Able Edwards (clone) struggles to find the humanity of life in a world of sterile conveniences. It was a bit distracting at first, because he (Able) looks a lot like Gavin Newsome, our mayor, but...once I got past that. The movie had a great blend of 'cheesy' shots (people shuffling in place trying to give the illusion of moving down a hall), and incredible shots (well, I guess not 'shots', but...how do you describe the building of green-screen backgrounds..?) anyway...amazing looking at the 'ruins' of a Disneyland-like park. Creepy, sad, moving. What a great film! Something about it in the theater though...it was quite pixilated(?) at time...or something... We were joking that it would be great to see it on the 'small' screen some day :)