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★★★
Directed by: #NoahGriffiths
Written by: #NoahGriffiths
Fake Plants Are Crap, an experimental short film created by Noah Griffiths offers very little in the way of traditional cinematic elements. This is an entirely artistic venture, whose message can be found through the title, which is needed to point the viewer in the right direction and to give them a chance at deriving meaning from this short. With an incredibly brief run time of just under two minutes, Fake Plants Are Craps tends towards the long shot, opting to present very little in each shot with nothing being spoon fed to the viewer. It is, in essence, a viewer driven film, if one can see the point, it has one, if one can’t then it doesn’t.
Griffiths does not need to do very much in the realm of sound, there is the loud and synthesised introduction which follows into a rather peaceful, perhaps windy rest of film. The lack of a clear path with this short leaves a viewer rather sceptical about whether it is worth watching, whether they can derive some meaning from it or not. One could see it as a mess of sound and images collected into a two-minute film, or as a calling, for a more environmentally aware society; to dispose with the plastic that runs rampant on Griffiths’ screen.
From an artistic perspective, Griffiths clearly has a style, there is a grunge like quality to this short, from the title screen through to the end credits there remains a distinct lack of vibrancy and colour, perhaps to emphasise the lifelessness that fake plants represent. As this short is defined as experimental we can approach it as such. Does it work? If you look hard enough, I believe it can be a worthwhile two minutes, but that’s just it, it’s only two minutes, even if you cannot see any reason for this short, or don’t find yourself giving it any thought afterwards, it hasn’t been a huge waste of time.
I find it difficult to categorise this short within any realm of good or bad, there are no traditional cinematic elements to really cement it as film, however, I cannot stop wondering what it all means, and maybe that’s a good thing. The title is key as without it contextualising the content, I wouldn’t be able to see any purpose to it. The real question is, if you can find meaning and see a purpose, is it actually a worthwhile watch? Whilst I can appreciate the creative talent behind the film, I’m not sure it is.
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