One of the highlights of LX2009 was catching a screening of writer/director Mike Kehoe’s Steampunk short Ironwerkz . I wasn’t aware of the existence of this film prior to the event and so was able to sit down to it totally without preconception. I must say that I was so pleasantly surprised by the quality of many aspects of this film that I sat down for a second screening without hesitation and fully recommend it to anyone who can get their hands on a copy.
The 15 minute film opens with the introduction of an isolated, all-male family unit living and working on a visually impressive island of scrap, accessed by outsiders via cable car and steam truck. The three men make their living processing the scrap, aided in their work – in the case of the older two – by mechanically altered body parts. As isolated as their distilled industrial environment is, an affluent ‘outside’ of a very different texture is implied by the brief appearance of a well-dressed couple styled in the Victorian manner, taking delivery of the work they have commissioned. This scene is indicative of the simple economy with which Kehoe evokes an intricate and compelling back-story to his film.
The arrival of the outsiders and their stark and obvious contrast to the islanders compels the youngest of the three men – The Boy - to attempt to create something beautiful and secret for himself, from the off casts of his work and the waste in his environment. However, the discovery of his creation by the unit's patriarch leads to a set of events that threaten to permanently distance the Boy from the beauty that he so desperately seeks.
Ironwerkz is a powerful short film set within an original and convincing Steampunk universe. Completely without the use of dialogue, Kehoe’s film conjures a space in which mediations on family, tradition, technology, modification, class and capitalism and the necessity of beauty vie for the viewers attention. As would be expected with a film produced for £9000 – a figure on the low-end of a low budget – there are some aspects of Ironwerkz that show a lack of polish. Pa’s sideburns look tacked on and, while the various prosthetics are admirable realised, I never stopped being aware of the fact that they were props. Although these aspects are probably more obvious in the representation of a world that, visually at least, departs so drastically from our own, Shane Carruth’s Primer (2004), shot for a similar budget and with a run time of 77mins, shows just how much can be done for so little. In this respect, I wonder if the ambition of Kehoe was too much for his budget and resources to handle.
That being said, Ironwerkz is its own creature. The creativity of Kehoe and the Ironwerkz team to bring to life such an unusual environ cannot be overstated, nor the skill of the actors that brought such a distinctive cast of characters to life without recourse to words . Of particular note was Matthew Lockwood whose depiction of the Boy came across as suitably otherworldly.
To sum up, Ironwerkz is a darkly Gothic and distinctive example of dystopian Steampunk cinema with surprising splashes of humour and beauty. Well worth seeing.
Ironwerkz official website
Ironwerkz at IMDB
* Post-post qualification:
Just saw the online trailer for fan fic film The Hunt For Gollum (2009) over at Boing Boing. Made for a £3000 budget and it looks stunning. Ironwerkz, for reasons that Kehoe has explained concerning budget and funding restrictions, doesn't look up to spec in comparison but I maintain that there is something quite sublime about this film that doesn't come down to technical skills and effects but is entirely due to the execution of the narrative.
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