Matialth
Good concept, poorly executed.
InformationRap
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Tayloriona
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Rubber Johnny" is a six-minute animated short film by Chris Cunning Ham and Aphex Twin. They worked together on several projects, and none of them are glorious gently-put, but this one here may take the cake for worst. This is listed as horror, but I don't know about that. I would rather describe it as weird. we see some deformed creatures, a dog with (not really) scary eyes and a train. And some more stuff, but it was all so insignificant and forgettable that I don't even remember, although I just watched it. The music was pointless too. Cunningham worked with Madonna in the past, so this is really a massive step down for him here in this 10-year-old short film. And the result would be a step down for basically every filmmaker. Highly not recommended.
Rectangular_businessman
Pretty much like all the other works directed by Chris Cunningham (The man responsible for music videos like "Come to Daddy", "All is Full of Love", "Windowlicker", among others) this short is something quite fascinating, being visually impressive and very disturbing at the same time.It starts like a horror movie, but eventually turns out to be a music video (A very twisted and shocking one) Personally, I think it is one of the most original artistic creations from the recent years, having a magnificent atmosphere (Which manages to be way more terrifying that most of the horror film from the recent years) and great visual effects.The Aphex Twin music is strangely fitting, giving a different mood to the short, with magnificent results.What could have been just a morbid waste of time becomes something very interesting thanks to the excellent direction by Chris Cunningham, who is able to turn grotesque imagery into brilliant artistic creations.
tonymurphylee
RUBBER JOHNNY is a short film by acclaimed music video director Chris Cunningham. It is a strangely emotional film about a deformed subhuman that does, something. I don't know what he does, it's a little difficult to describe. It could be interpreted as dancing, and indeed, it is pretty much the only thing it could remotely be, but there is something more elaborate at work here. He may be stoned. The film can be easily taken as a music video, but I think that to call it that would be too easy. One could easily dismiss it as Chris Cunningham showing off his prosthetic morphing techniques, but they are far too simple to be shoved off as such. There is a story here, but we are given the bare minimum of what the underlying theme is, which is boredom. Or maybe it's loneliness. What I think is especially unique about this video is the lack of any sort of purpose. It simply tells of an apparent event. There appears to be some kind of theme involving male genitalia, with the title, RUBBER JOHNNY, and the fact that the title is marked on an erect penis. The prosthetics on display here are pretty abstract and disgusting, but in a fascinating and unique way. Chris Cunningham is great because he can take something popular in our culture and completely twist and distort it in a way that allows it to be the same popular thing, but the viewer will have a completely different feeling or opinion about it. Just look at his video for Aphex Twin's WINDOWLICKER. He takes the female body and shows it in a different way that is original and simple so that they remain in the same form the viewer was into before, however, because of the way he altered it the viewer gets repulsed and even very frightened by it now. The music video WINDOWLICKER was, in away, an act of protest and rebellion. As a result, I consider today to be among the most shocking music videos ever made. However, RUBBER JOHNNY is also a protest, but on a deeper level. The paranormal idea is so attractive in our way of life that we have caused culture revolving around aliens and humans to be a funny dream. What if somebody treated the idea in an honest and original way? The creature in this film may very well be human, but he is certainly not somebody that we would ever have any interest of allowing him to adapt to our ways. Chris Cunningham is able to take things a step further by adding a sexual element into the idea of RUBBER JOHNNY. The enlarged penis of the creature is another step in the direction of the fantasies that many people have discussed about having some sort of sexual or bodily interest in otherworldly beings. The film, instead, dares you to try and think about sex while watching this horrifying movie. I think that if Chris Cunningham continues to make daring and creative films like these, people could really look back on his work after the world has continued to grow and alter itself and realize that he had ideas that none of us have ever thought honestly about. Do visual effects really have to be complicated and drawn out to be good? Is the female body really a more beautiful thing that the male body? Are the ideas behind aliens really as fascinating as we've led ourselves to believe? It's these kinds of questions that make films like RUBBER JOHNNY work.
g8jedi
The first time I watched this I was seriously disturbed. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. My girlfriend had to leave the room, because she couldn't watch it. Every time we show it to someone they leave feeling uneasy and weirded out. Chris Cunningham's precision and attention to every terrifying detail make's Rubber Johnny the most memorable thing I have watched in a long time. I became interested in his work after seeing the Bjork Robot Video 'All is full of love'. He also did 'Come to Daddy' for Aphex Twin, 'Frozen' for Madonna and Portishead's "Only You". "All is Full of Love" was nominated for a Grammy and won Best Breakthrough video and Special Effects at the 2000 MTV Video Awards.
