Synthetic Pleasures

Toronto International Film Festival Program Book
1995

Synthetic Pleasures
lara Lee
USA, 1995
82 minutes Colour/35mm
Production Company: Caipirinha Productions
Producer: George Gund
Cinematographer: Marcus Hahn, Toshifumi Furusawa, Kramer Morgenthau
Editor: Andreas Troeger, Stacia Thompson
Sound: Antonio Arroyo, Matthew Sigall
Music: Mike Kandel, Single Cell Orchestra, Haruami Hosono
Principal Cast: Michio Kaku, Scott Bukatman, Jaron Lanier, John Perry Barlow, Orlan, Robert Gurland, Robert Ettinger, Timothy Leary

From kickout raves to mind-expanding VR simulations. From artificial worlds created in vast shopping malls to the latest in flash-frozen pets. Synthetic Pleasures is the ultimate how-to book for Futureworld, consumer style. More than just a documentary, lara Lee’s film is a rich and overwhelming barrage of information and imagery. Punctuated by sound bites from experts—more wide-eyed acolytes than academics—and accented by a hypnotic techno score, Synthetic Pleasures neatly ties together all news-worthy trends, from the kooky to the horrific.

Working from a simple premise—that many of today’s trends stem from a desire to transcend the natural world—Lee divides her film into three sections. The first, “Synthetic Environments,” shows how we create the world in our image, through the Biosphere, high-tech kitsch and computer-generated universes. “Synthetic Bodies” concerns how we attempt to “perfect” our corporeal selves with plastic surgery, genetic engineering, cryonics and cybernetics. “Synthetic Identities” concerns our minds, altered through drugs, the Internet and more.

The voices of the future include some of the most fascinating people alive: John Perry Barlow, cattle rancher, former Grateful Dead lyricist and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation; Orlan, a French performance artist who “adjusts” her body through plastic surgery every few months; Steve Roberts, a self-styled high-tech nomad who boots around the U.S. in his computer-laden, 105-speed recumbent bicycle; and Timothy Leary, the granddaddy of all alternative-reality theorists. More than anything, Synthetic Pleasures reflects its subject matter, a massive mind massage, a smart drug for the next millennium. Be prepared to face your future.
—Noah Cowan