Watch Connected, A Sci-Fi Western Short Film

A couple months ago I mentioned the Danish short sci-fi western Connected. That was when a very cool poster was released for the film. Now the whole thing is online, and you can see what happens when two people are forced to rely upon one another to survive in a blasted landscape.Connected is only sort of a western, but it does have a nice reversal of expectations, and it primarily concerns greed as it takes control in some sort of wasteland. Or, as the official synopsis says:

Set in the distant future, Connected is a story about survival and greed with a post apocalyptic wasteland as its backdrop. Survivors of an unknown disaster shuffle through a desolate landscape, as it quickly becomes clear that not everybody has the strength to survive.

I love the look of the film, which makes the most of what I assume to be a fairly low budget. It looks like an old strip from Heavy Metal come to life. You won't see faces or hear dialogue, but a great set of costume designs and a solid trio of physical performances provide all the character you'll need. I want to know more about the science and systems behind what is happening here, but you don't really need that info. That I'm curious about it at all suggests that the film is working.

My only qualm here is the music. The western theme would make more sense in a story where that sort of music might be heard at all. Here, rather than referring to anything about the world or the people in it, the tune basically says, "hey, we'd like this to be a western!" That's not a huge deal, but it was a bit distracting.

There's no embed of Connected at the moment, but you can see a good QuickTime version at the film's official site. There are some good behind the scenes tidbits there, too.