Think Pink Radio

Someone talked the Scion car company into sponsoring an independent film series. Cynics will argue that Scion is just out to sell cars, but you have to hand it to the suits for choosing a surprisingly diverse line-up of intriguing films. Route kicked off in September with George Hickenloper’s chronicle of the L.A. music scene, Mayor of Sunset Strip (2003). Raquel Cepeda’s Bling: A Planet Rock (2007), a documentary of hip-hop culture in war-torn Sierra Leone, screened in October. Last month, Route brought Jennie Livington’s stunning documentary of the 1980s Harlem drag ball scene, Paris Is Burning (1990) back to big screens across America. To see these quality films at “no charge” meant, of course, that one also had to accept free beer and merchandise that event staff kept shoving in one’s face. Nothing is truly free.

The last offering of the Route film series is Daft Punk’s Electroma (2006), which screens over the next two weeks across the country. Directors Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo dabble in a whole lot of everything, not the least of which is recording and producing world-renowned House music as Daft Punk. While Daft Punk have been integrating visuals into live shows for years, Electroma is their first full-length live action film (they had that cartoon).

According to Route’s publicity, “Daft Punk’s Electroma is an odyssey of two robots who journey across a mythic American landscape of haunting, surreal beauty on a quest to become human. With its breathtaking cinematography, innovative filming techniques, and above all its underlying search for humanity within a dystopian environment, Daft Punk have delivered a film that finds a common thread with their previous work while exploring new horizons as directors of their first feature film. “

And hey, free beer.

Trailer and mp3’s below, screening schedule after the jump.

- R. Esquivel

Daft Punk Vs. Justin Timberlake–What Goes Around the World

Daft Punk–Robot Rock/Oh Yeah

SEATTLE (Tues 12/4) @ Harvard Exit Theater
CHICAGO (Thurs 12/6) @ Piper’s Alley
NEW YORK CITY (Thurs 12/6) @ Anthology Film Archives
LOS ANGELES (Fri 12/7) @ The Fine Arts Theater
ATLANTA (Mon 12/10) @ Center Stage
AUSTIN (Wed 12/12) @ Alamo Drafthouse Cinema