The Human Surge

One of the most surprising, original, and ingeniously shape-shifting feature debuts in recent years, Eduardo Williams' The Human Surge focuses on a subject that, for many, is synonymous with boredom, alienation, and mundanity: work. With his peripatetic camera(s) traversing the globe — shooting on 16mm in Buenos Aires, a Blackmagic pocket camera (subsequently reshot on Super 16 from the screen of a computer) in Maputo, Mozambique, and the RED camera on the Philippine island province of Bohol — Williams creates a multi-faceted meditation on what we do to make money; how we spend our time; how we measure progress, success and leisure; and how ultimately nothing is static in this world of wild weather patterns, internet connectivity, and globalized trade, travel, and exchange.

Structured in three parts (with inventive relays between each section), The Human Surge thrusts us, with little to no introduction or context, into the lives of mostly young men in disparate parts of the world who are bored by (or released from) their jobs and seeking fulfillment elsewhere. Underlining both the commonality and diversity of these characters' experiences, Williams hints at profound political and philosophical enquiries while remaining in a fluid mode of observation, mutual relation and open adventure. The intimate spaces of everyday life open onto some of the greatest paradoxes of contemporary existence, wherein increased connectivity has engendered ever-greater isolation and (nominally) expanded autonomy has sapped work of much of the meaning it once held.

Winding and wondrous, magical and mysterious, Williams' stunning debut tracks a constantly evolving world, one with different looks and textures but similar concerns and ways of existence. Possessed of a quiet radicality and an invigorating cinematic freedom, The Human Surge announces the arrival of a bold new talent.

ANDRÉA PICARD