Automata (1978)

Handling

The combination of insular wonderland with open cityscape is more tightly realized in Automata. For this film, Sokoloff challenged Grauer to make things from a bag of wind-up toy motors. He then spliced together a cycle of footage from his favorite city sites. Finally, he shot Grauer’s creations on the same film in a double exposure. The result is a day in the life of a shaman toy gang, set loose upon Manhattan. Automata recalled references ranging from Godzilla to the stop-motion Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Technically, Automata is more roughly hewn than either of these predecessors. Only when the film’s toys are superimposed on an amorphous background (like moving lights or water) do they convincingly seem a part of their environment. Nevertheless, the toys’ jerky motion, the film cuts’ jagged beat, and the staccato George Anthiel score all create a charming, childlike, unexpectedly graceful effect.