We even get a femme fatale of sorts when James meets a young woman named Alice (Kelley Mack) who follows him right down the rabbit hole.įor this reviewer, Broadcast Signal Intrusion was just too similar to another recent movie making the film festival rounds this year-Prano Bailey-Bond’s Censor. Each lead that James finds takes him deeper and deeper into the madness. All of the intrusions coincide with the disappearances of women around the Chicago area. The person wearing the Max Headroom mask has been replaced by women wearing a featureless silicone mask with a black wig. Written by Phil Drinkwater and Tim Woodall, Broadcast Signal Intrusion is a tech noire. The act video also contained modified audio and a backing set designed to invoke the same design of the Max Headroom show. The intrusions themselves appear to be based on a famous real-life incident that occurred in Chicago in the late 80’s known as the “ Max Headroom Incident.” On the evening of November 22, 1987, when a video of an individual wearing a character mask of the Max Headroom television character interrupted the programming of two stations in Chicago, Illinois. When James stumbles upon some eerie broadcasts in the videos he’s archiving, he becomes obsessed with trying to find the source of the video and those responsible for it. The two communicate through post-it notes. Grief-stricken by the disappearance of his wife, James belongs to a bereavement group, but avoids any intimacy with the other members. Set in Chicago in 1999, the movie follows James ( Harry Shum, Jr.), a video archivist living an incredibly solitary life. It is exactly this strange event that concerns Jacob Gentry’s new film, Broadcast Sígnal Intrusion. It all leads to a frustrating push and pull between a film and its leading man.The term “ broadcast signal intrusion” refers to, “the hijacking of broadcast signals of radio, television stations, cable television broadcast feeds or satellite signals without permission nor license.” This practice, also known as “Pirate Broadcasting,” has had many notable incidents throughout history. If anything, it feels like Gentry should have played this angle up-although he was likely concerned about turning “Broadcast Signal Intrusion” into a “missing wife” story-as Shum seems to want to give the project an urgency that it too often lacks. Whereas most people might investigate these intrusions with the fascination of a true crime podcast fan, James instantly suspects a connection to his trauma, and Shum is capable of conveying the way that grief can impact perception. Paranoia certainly hasn’t gone away since the ‘70s-it’s just gone online.Īn interesting yet underdeveloped component to this particular paranoia thriller is the grief that drives James as much as his curiosity. With increasing concerns over the power of tech, the disintegration of piracy, and the general distrust of government, it seems like a perfect time for a resurgence of the large scale paranoia thriller, and “Broadcast Signal Intrusion” could eventually look like the start of that subgenre’s return with hindsight. Phil Drinkwater and Tim Woodall’s script was very clearly inspired by conspiracy films of the ‘70s and ‘80s like “ The Parallax View” and “ Blow Out,” films with protagonists who become obsessed with the idea that they are just one clue away from solving everything. It turns out that the dates of the intrusions line up a little too neatly with those of missing women, and, of course, James has an emotional connection because the rumored third intrusion happened right around the time his wife Hannah disappeared. It’s not long before James is meeting shadowy figures in parking garages and alleys, getting clues about the origin of the intrusions and what they might mean. He instantly (too instantly, really) becomes obsessed with learning more, soon finding a recording of a second BSI and hearing rumors of a third. plays James, a video archivist in Chicago in 1999 who stumbles upon a recording of a BSI that features a figure in a strange, slightly terrifying white mask.
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