Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control

Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control. Errol Morris, dir. USA: Fourth Floor Productions / American Playhouse (prod.), Sony Pictures Classics (dist.), 1997. 80 min. B/W, Color. Players: Dave Hoover: Himself (Wild Animal Trainer), George Mendonça: Himself (Topiary Gardener), Ray Mendez (II): Himself (Mole-Rat Specialist), Rodney Brooks: Himself (Robot Scientist)—from IMDb.

Citation here by Vince Moore, edited by Erlich: A documentary combining the stories of four men—the wild animal Trainer, the topiary gardener, the mole-rat specialist, and the robot scientist. Connects the four narratives through images from circuses and clips from b-movies and old film serials. Mole-rats are naked mammals (like H. sapiens) that live in hives and behave like termites; they are likened to robots, while a series of robots (from which the filmmaker derived the title) is taught to act with a hive mind. Meanwhile, in a b-movie clip (Gigantor) a robot is fought off with a chair. The wild animal trainer discusses how a chair is used to divert the attention of lions in order to facilitate training and forming the individuals beasts into a unit. The topiary gardener describes his creations as "animals" and has a different spin on the behavior of living organisms. The four points of view increasingly overlap as the similarities in the different social and living systems converge. Human, animal, insect, and plant behavior become a series of feedback loops (as described by the robot scientist) and one is left pondering one's own consciousness. (RDE, 09/08/98)