Circle of Life as Roulette
(2010)
makers: Glenn Hodgens, Lin Chen and Lai Wing Yip.
A good idea, unfortunately made very literal and then pushed and yelled at us in oh so many ways. The title tells us all we need to know. But in case we missed that we get a slew of graphics all related to gambling and the casino. If that slipped us by we then get the fully capitalised exclamatory "SPIN THE WHEEL!".
Now, why does it have to tell us to spin the wheel? Because no thumbnails are used, instead a single graphic provides the navigational link and it a ball. Why it isn't a wheel, or even a die, I don't understand, but we need to be told what to do because the interface doesn't actually tell or show us what to do.
Clicking loads clips that seem to be trying to be a narrative. We have baby footage which is about the qualities present as a baby that are relevant now ("self maintenance", "from an early age...", "always fascinated with electronic devices" and so on), and then a contemporary tale which is about a gambler. It mixes clips of getting ready to go to casino, betting on local sports, winning, losing. As you are only offered one spin you are always completely subject to the logic of the work, even more so than most K-films where several thumbnails are offered. This can be effective, but here with the mix of toddler footage and then gambling, the mix is very uneven and even unwarranted. To have a sense of the risk of the roll, and the inevitable constraint and loss that this actually is, the work needs to be harder in tone and outcome. However, even if it did this it offers less space of play than most gambling if only because in its realisation here there are no odds available to me. I can't calculate anything about my next spin of the wheel, it means as much, or as little, as the last one, and so all that is being risked is my attention and understanding.
In the end it becomes something that wants to wallow in the pleasures of gambling while offering a feint towards self deprecation. It doesn't get there. This unsureness is repeated all through the work in its presentation, noise, busyness and almost burlesque use of the Korsakow engine to solve the problem of connection by treating it as faux random.