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In the shadow of Blade Runner, Pinocchio's awakening. A dash of stop-motion under the credits sets the analog mood, Casio chimes give way to a blast of soul in outer space ("Searching for My Love," by Bobby Moore & the Rhythm Aces). The stellar station is a metal maze with a vast garden at its center, the gawky humanoid (Don Opper) assists the cracked inventor (Klaus Kinski) and pines for action. In the laboratory awaits a vacant Eve (Kendra Kirchner), though the protagonist is far more interested in hitching a ride to Earth with the interplanetary "anti-corporate terrorists" (Brie Howard, Norbert Weisser, Crofton Hardester) who've crashed the camp. The android has learned about humans from watching Frank Capra movies, though, judging from his reaction to the scrappy runaway's compliment about his kissing ("Well, I've been doing a lot of research..."), he's also been studying Woody Allen. Aaron Lipstadt's brand of erudite, low-tech sci-fi envisions Opper first as a meek Stan Laurel and then an elongated Nosferatu, and orchestrates the rising of the Evil Maria in Metropolis to James Brown's "It's a Man's Man's Man's World." "That's the weirdest line for getting into my pants I've ever heard." Trumbull's Silent Running and Carpenter's Dark Star are the models, with Morrissey's Flesh for Frankenstein for the dénouement. Kinski has at least one choice moment, waxing romantic to the synthetic babe he's created ("Vhat ve do for love ees beyond good und evil") a minute or so before his great, shaggy noggin is separated from his body. The father is overthrown, the bully vanquished and the blonde cheerleader ensnared, thus quite a nifty adjustment of Dick's "electric sheep" for the nerd coming of age.
--- Fernando F. Croce |