Sometimes you gotta get a little wild in order to get the point across with the story you’re trying to tell. In the short film Content: The Lo-Fi Man, directors Brian Lonano and Blake Myers pull out all the stops to create a wild, silly, lively meta spectacle that’s equal parts social commentary and blatant allegory for the perils of content creation.

The film starts off with Lonano playing himself in a commentary about the film Tetsuo: The Iron Man. He doesn’t get too far in waxing poetic, though, before an omnipresent overlord shows disapproval in what he’s saying, and follows through with a swift punishment, replacing him instantly with a “new and improved” version (Clarke Williams). 

This new version appears to be much cooler and more high energy, but even this iteration isn’t immune to punishment every time he doesn’t dissect the film in the proper way. New Lonano has had enough. He seeks to escape the torment he’s being put through, only to wind up in an outrageous battle against robots who are out to destroy indie filmmakers who aren’t creating what they deem as “content”. Joined by a gang of ousted filmmakers, it’s up to him to fight these evil robots off and save the art of filmmaking.

Content: The Lo-Fi Man has a clear message it’s trying to make about the current state of film, and how it stands up against streaming services and social media platforms that provide quick, constant content to the masses. While that may be a touchy subject for some, Lonano and Myers do it in a way that’s engaging and nonsensical. The effects are ludicrous on purpose, giving cheeky nods to low budget sci-fi from both the past and present. 

You know right away going in that this isn’t a film looking to take itself too seriously. It just wants to make a statement without beating the audience over the head and souring their mood. These guys have a lot to say, and because of the short runtime, this comes across as manic and disjointed at times, leaving a few of the scenes feeling confusing as your brain tries to keep up.

There are movies whose entire intent is to educate the audience on important current events, and then there are those that want to simultaneously teach and entertain while tackling relevant and important subject matter. Content: The Lo-Fi Man goes all in on the latter, and the end result is both insane and amusing