Fantastic Machine

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Fantastic Machine

Released Oct 13, 2023

1h 25m

Documentary

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

68%

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19 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

The camera is a fantastic machine. Filmmakers Axel Danielson & Maximilien Van Aertryck once again turn their cameras directly on society, this time to explore, explain and expose how our unchecked obsession with image has grown to change our human behavior. From Camera Obscura and the Lumieres Brothers all the way to Youtube and the world of social media, the film chronicles how we went from capturing the image of a backyard to a multi-billion- euro content industry in just 200 years.

Jonathan Romney

Financial Times

It packs a density of juicily entertaining content.

Rated: 3/5

Apr 22, 2024

Full Review

Leslie Felperin

Guardian

Directors Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck explore the camera and the moving image’s ability to dazzle, deceive and delight through history. That said, their thematic intent seems to be a slippery thing.

Rated: 3/5

Apr 16, 2024

Full Review

Savina Petkova

Little White Lies

In a way, the mark of a good video essay is having the edited footage speak for itself, and while that is the case here, the way Fantastic Machine is narrated leaves too much unexplored.

Rated: 2/5

Apr 16, 2024

Full Review

Daniel Allen

Loud and Clear Reviews

Fantastic Machine is a transfixing essay telling the history of the camera and our society’s growing obsession with the moving image.

Rated: 4/5

Jul 25, 2024

Full Review

Sarah Kent

The Arts Desk

Having done a brilliant job of amassing a wealth of thought-provoking material, they avoid drawing any conclusions from it... They simply ask where we go from here; which feels like a complete cop out.

Rated: 3/5

Apr 19, 2024

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Avi Offer

NYC Movie Guru

Unfocused, meandering and shallow. Fantastic Machine's systemic problem, though, is that it's too broad in scope while lacking insight and saying nothing new or surprising.

Oct 11, 2023

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Axel Danielson

Director

Maximilien Van Aertryck

Director

Axel Danielson

Screenwriter

Maximilien Van Aertryck

Screenwriter

Axel Danielson

Producer

Maximilien Van Aertryck

Producer

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Synopsis

The camera is a fantastic machine. Filmmakers Axel Danielson & Maximilien Van Aertryck once again turn their cameras directly on society, this time to explore, explain and expose how our unchecked obsession with image has grown to change our human behavior. From Camera Obscura and the Lumieres Brothers all the way to Youtube and the world of social media, the film chronicles how we went from capturing the image of a backyard to a multi-billion- euro content industry in just 200 years.

Director: Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck
Producer: Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck
Screenwriter: Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck
Distributor: Strand Releasing
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: Swedish
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 13, 2023, Limited
Runtime: 1h 25m