A while back, I managed to find the full “theatrical” release of Daft Punk’s full-length feature Electroma via some torrent site that shall go unnamed.  While I typically lost patience after trying repeatedly to sit through the painfully meandering opening 20 minutes, the film picks up some steam near the middle (just a bit, mind you) and presents a reasonably entertaining story.  Now, I actually own some of Daft Punk’s other DVD releases (Interstella 5555 an animated film scored to their “Discovery” album, and D.A.F.T. – A Story About Dogs, Androids, Firemen and Tomatoes.)   They’ve been more or less (more) forgettable.

Similarly, narrative aside I suspect the plot points matter much less than the visuals here.  The cinematography and compositional techniques used in the film are its true strength.  Production-wise, it’s pretty sharp and at the end of the day it’s just really trippy to see a community of churchgoers, a tractor driver, and a kid with an ice cream cone, all wearing those sweet helmets.  Overall, the film is equal parts visually arresting and indulgent as art films can be, but it’s worth watching at least once.  Here’s the trailer:

ANYWAY the main reason i’m posting about this is the last scene of the movie features a tremendously beautiful song that caught my ear immediately.  I did a little research and found the name of the artist, Jackson C. Frank.  I’m not too familiar with his ouvre, but again, did a little research and it turns out the guy had such a shitty, tragic life. Seriously, his wiki explains more, but I just marvel at his craft in the songs he penned, in light of such crap circumstances he was dealt. Ultimately he died an unglorious death in the shambles of poverty and poor health. Quite a shame. Here’s the song “I Want To Be Alone (Dialogue)” that’s featured in Electroma: