Panic Fest Film Festival Coverage
Noclip review
An experimental film about empty spaces? A commentary on the state of shopping malls? Maybe nothing?
Festival reviews will not contain spoilers.
Noclip
Directed by Gavin Charles and Alex Conn
Written by Gavin Charles and Alex Conn
Starring Gavin Charles and Alex Conn
Noclip Review
Let’s begin what is sure to be a unique review by looking at the meaning of a few things. Consider it a footnote for the movie Noclip. Definitions for terms you’ll hear several times throughout the journey of two stoners lost in a mall.
Noclip – Most often associated with video games. It refers to when your character glitches through a wall or other solid environment to get to the other side. Sometimes winding up in unprogrammed space.
Liminal Space – An abandoned area between places. They may not have any windows…leaving an empty, surreal feeling when you walk through them.
The Backrooms – An urban legend. Liminal spaces that don’t exist on this plane of existence.
Noclip is the story of two friends who film their time in a local mall looking for liminal spaces. Setting the movie at a mall is an obvious choice. The once bustling shopping centers have seen better, busier days. There’s no shortage of YouTube videos of people walking through the now empty structures. There’s probably no better way to describe the movie than as a slight narrative built around the phenomenon.
Gavin Charles and Alex Conn serve as co-directors, co-writers, and co-stars in Noclip. This is a two-man production in every sense. Essentially, you’re going to watch two guys walk around the back corridors of a mall for an hour. Aside from some camera distortions…there isn’t a second idea. Two guys walk around empty spaces with a camera. I almost feel bad for robbing you of the ability to spend part of the hour Noclip runs looking up the meanings of those terms.
What makes Noclip difficult to review is that it’s more of an experiment than a film. If you enjoy watching YouTube videos exploring the vacuous spaces between space…Noclip might work for you. Those looking for a more traditional story or structure or production or…anything…won’t find any of it here. The duo chat throughout the movie…but it’s not about anything. They’re playing this for (sur)realism not to tell a story. Which is fine. Just don’t expect a deep commentary about the state of modern commerce and the grand cathedrals left in its wake.
Noclip is a worthwhile experiment. The road may not be leading us anywhere…but that’s kind of the point. At 61 minutes it knows better than to overstay its welcome with a full feature length. This isn’t a feature length film…it’s an attempt to put a bit of personality into a creepypasta story. It doesn’t have the same goals of a full narrative feature. Almost a proof of concept…a do-it-yourself version of experience with a couple of people figuring out if they can, in fact, do it themselves.
There’s something to the concept. There’s something to the execution. It just doesn’t add up to more than what the elevator pitch says. It’s made with earnestness which makes it interesting. If you were to draw conclusions from the journey…and I’m not suggesting that you should…it’s wide open for you to do so. Maybe you’ll find some meaning here. Maybe you’ll just see two stoners getting lost in a mall. In the end…doesn’t that sound like a YouTube video you’d click on?
Scare Value
Noclip may not have a lot to say…but it is committed to not saying it. I don’t want to say you’d have more fun getting lost in a mall yourself…but the truth is that will be the case for some viewers. Others may find whatever it is our two leads were looking for. If nothing else…like mall walking itself…it’s a decent exercise.
