Review: Electric Man

★★★☆☆

Currently the film industry has flooded audiences with more superheroes than they know what to do with. Some have proven to be very entertaining films while others should have probably remained unmade. Electric Man is the Edinburgh-based comic book film making its UK premier at the Glasgow Film Festival. This low-budget independent film shows a lot of potential in its storytelling style. Despite its shortcomings David Barras’s directorial debut is something altogether unique.

Jazz (Toby Manley) and Wolf (Mark McKirdy) are co-owners of a comic book shop in Edinburgh. This is a project the two started together and have been self-reliant through the good times and bad. It is a particularly bad time now for the two as they own their renter £5,000 in a few days with no conceivable to get that kind of money. Their fortunes are turned when they find a rare first edition amongst their other comics. A bidding war ensues as Jazz and Wolf first attempt to find the comics true owner. With more double-crossing than a braiding festival in spring, Electric Man keeps its mystery all the way to the end.

This is a film for the comic book fan, plain and simple. The superhero – in this case Electric Man – takes a backseat to those reading the comics and taking their message to heart. As mentioned above this is a comic book film, not a film adapted from a comic. This is very important to remember because the whole of the story is told like the old six frame per page comic books. More importantly, Electric Man seems to be aware of this traditional style adding more to the humour. Jazz talks to a stranger to sort through a dilemma though it is clear he is just talking to himself; quick cuts involving Wolf’s sexual activity reveal a beautiful girl dressed as a cat; a 40-year old man dresses up in full cosplay; and, just for good measure, there are a few fantasy sequences that are enjoyable to see play out even though they are not real.

This film suffers from a variety of things that ultimately come back to budget. In a Q&A that followed the premier the producer mentioned how she would have liked to have more money that could have been used for post-production work as well as to help pay for more rehearsal time for the actors. Though it may seem small, these things are noticeable. Some of the dialogue between Wolf and Jazz comes off as forced, like they aren’t lifelong friends turned business partners, and could have been tightened had they run through it a few more times.

Though there are rough patches, Electric Man is a title that deserves the attention of all movie fans. This is a great homage 1930s-1940s radio and detective stories from the states told in the perspective of comic shop owners in Edinburgh. It is clear this film doesn’t take itself too seriously poking fun at the stereotypes of comic fans while still provide an intelligent and well choreographed storyline.

David Rowley (@thedavidrowley)

Director – David Barras
Writers – David Barras &; Scott MacKay
Cast – Toby Manley, Mark McKirdy, Fish and Mark McDonnell
This was reviewed at 2012 Glasgow Film Festival