Botching

Botching, the brainchild of super-ingenious filmmaker Brian Williams aka Super 68, is a fictional story about a perhaps not-so-fictional and not-so-distant future. Set in a technologically much more advanced London, where robots and machines have been built and deployed to serve and protect us, Botching’s thrilling heist narrative entertains while highlighting the vulnerabilities we as a civilisation can and probably will face when and if we put so much faith into these systems.

Williams, creator extraordinaire, takes on most of the roles here, responsible for pretty much everything apart from the music (we’ll get onto Denis Kilty’s own impressive contributions shortly) and that singular voice means Botching is a clear and concise execution of vision from start to finish.

Firstly, the most obvious and definitely most impressive are the accomplishments in how the film looks and feels, Williams’ skills in CGI based story-telling are nothing short of awesome. It never quite veers into any uncanny valley territory, feeling more akin to cinematics from a high-end video game or animation series perhaps so it does always have that computer-modelled, proof-of-concept sense to it. But that said, it’s an incredibly striking film and genuinely never once feels cold or soulless as some wholly computer generated short films can, and the way it uses its greyscale aesthetic occasionally popped with just the right colours in just the right places really sells that dystopian vibe it’s aiming for, effortlessly evoking feelings of clearly inspired by classics such as Blade Runner and others while always managing to do the genre justice in its own right.

And what really helps hammer all that home is Kilty’s colossal score, one that is so fitting that it not only creates the right level of excitement and tension for us to be enthralled by, but completely rounds off this world-building that Williams has worked so hard at. Botching is a world that you feel you step into completely, filling you both with exhiliration but also unease as you realise the themes of what its saying behind all it's heist theatrics, a film that subtly outlays the very real fragility of our society when our dependence on AI-based technology reaches the point of no return.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if we got more from the Botching universe, with such fertile ground laid here by a clearly talented filmmaker and storyteller, the sky is the limit going forward.