The Republic (2017)

The Republic meets my threshold for something that is a movie, despite there being almost nothing to see. If you don’t already know: The Republic doesn’t utilize a camera. It presents solid colours only… and quite slowly. You could call it a gimmick, but be aware that it is one entry into a category of films that do the exact same thing—notably Derek Jarman’s Blue—and still manage to do a new thing. This entry holds interest by grounding the viewer in uncomplicated radioplay storytelIing, relieving us of the genuinely uncomfortable, OLED-destroying, static abstraction on screen.

Since you won’t be seeing much, pay attention to the warmth of the occasional flourishes that create sound-images in a mostly barren (apocalyptic?) sound-world. Most memorably, there is a doorbell effect that provides additional relief from what’s on screen, and from the detached, minimal presentation of sound stage and many of the vocal performances. I don’t have 7.1 surround at home and don’t believe this medium-fidelity production would have benefited from it anyway.

The story describes a group of libertarian outsiders (and e-cigarette enthusiasts) delicately. Here, in 2010s North America, the libertarians that get clipped are either loud or dangerous, and so I urge you to take a breath and reframe before watching, so you can “get behind” an extended scenario following the downfall of this sovereign of (very serious) libertarians who want deeply for their society to function.

Of all the performances, Nour Mobarak’s performance stands out.