Rubber Johnny
| Rubber Johnny | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Chris Cunningham |
| Produced by |
Sally Oldfield John Payne Grant Branton |
| Written by | Chris Cunningham |
| Starring | Chris Cunningham Elvis the dog Percy Rutterford (voice) |
| Music by | Aphex Twin |
| Edited by | Chris Cunningham |
| Distributed by | Warp Films |
|
Release date
|
20 June 2005 |
|
Running time
|
6 min |
| Language | English |
Rubber Johnny is a six-minute experimental short film and music video directed by Chris Cunningham in 2005, using music composed by Aphex Twin. The name Rubber Johnny is drawn from British slang for "condom" as well as a description of the main character, which explains the title sequence. The DVD comes with an art book, containing stills from the film, as well as conceptual drawings, photographs and more.
The concept for Rubber Johnny came from Cunningham's imagining a raver morphing as he danced. The idea evolved to the present film, in which Johnny is an isolated deformed (possibly hydrocephalic) teenager kept on a wheelchair and locked in a dark basement with his chihuahua. The film was originally intended to be a 30-second TV commercial for the Aphex Twin album drukqs, using the track "afx237 v7". However, Cunningham grew to like the concept more and more and decided to expand the concept into a greater length (the original commercial remains in the film in an altered form.) The film was shot partially in infrared night vision on digital video. The film's music is "afx237 v7 (w19rhbasement remix)", a remix made by Cunningham; the credits music is "gwarek2", also from drukqs.
The film, entirely presented in infrared vision, starts with an out-of-focus closeup of Johnny (played by Cunningham), babbling incomprehensibly while being interviewed by an unseen man. At one point Johnny mumbles the word "ma-ma" twice, after which the man asks if he wants his mother to come in. This causes Johnny to start breathing erratically and lose control, so the man gives Johnny a sedative injection to calm him down.
The video cuts to a fluorescent light turning on, then a mouse crawling over a press-sticker credits list, followed by the title, "Rubber Johnny", which is shown written on a condom, in a backwards-playing scene of it being pulled off a penis.
...
Wikipedia