CIRCUITRY MAN (1990)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, psychological*

CIRCUITRY MAN is one of three films written by the sibling-team of Robert and Steven Lovy and directed by the latter brother. The two apparently continued to work in low-budget cinema in other capacities, and this is a shame, because their first collaboration stands as one of the better "cyberpunk noirs" in American science fiction.

A narrative crawl informs the viewer that in post-apocalyptic 2020, most of the surface world has been devastated and the remnants of humanity live in underground cities, where the last frontier is the human mind. That means that the various underworld cliques trade in such dubious commodities as computer chips meant to stimulate the brains of customers who "plug" into them. In underground Los Angeles, Lori (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson) formerly worked as a bodyguard and smuggler for one gang, headed by the corpulent Juice (Lu Leonard). Lori left Juice's employ to sell fashion designs to whatever passes for legitimate society (never seen, to keep the budget low). But Lori makes the mistake of looking for love in the wrong place, and her bed-partner betrays her to Juice's henchman Yoyo (mannishly clad Barbara Alyn Woods). Yoyo drags Lori to meet Juice, who pressures Lori to accept a special commission, to transport a cache of computer chips cross-country to New York for a big score. 

During negotiations, the cynical Lori meets Romero (like "Romeo") Danner (Jim Metzler), a "synthetic" normally employed as a "pleasure droid." Juice, being the sort of villain who boasts about previous misdeeds, tells Lori that she once manipulated Danner into being her runner on a job in order to liberate his girlfriend. The big catch: there is no girlfriend, only a programmed memory of one, downloaded into Danner's mind to make him tractable.

Lori needs a wheel-man to help her survive the underground catacombs connecting the various cities, and to avoid moving onto the surface, where humans can only survive with oxygen gear. The aggrieved young woman plays upon Danner's programmed fantasies so that he helps her, though clearly she's also intrigued with the handsome synthetic's rep as a man who can pleasure women. Unfortunately, rival crook Plughead (Vernon Wells) tries to hijack the chips, kills Juice (though she gets better later), and teams with Yoyo to knock off the two couriers.

Though the budget is low, the Lovys use a variety of clever production tricks to create the illusion of a future world. While being chased by Plughead-- so called because he has computer-jacks sprouting from his skull-- Lori and Danner start to bond as beleagured outsiders, and Lori becomes conflicted about using Danner for her own ends, just like Juice. The travelers meet a tunnel-rat, Leech (Dennis Christopher. providing wonky comedy relief), and he joins their band, being the only one who can provide oxygen tanks, with which to escape pursuit on the deadly surface.

There's also not a lot of budget for action FX. Lori, strangely nicknamed "the muscle bitch" even though she's not overly ripped, does a few basic fighting-moves against lowlife opponents, and at the conclusion Danner has a gun-duel with Plughead. But the focus is the love story, and though Lori is absent in the sequel, CIRCUITRY MAN is dramatically more satisfying than any dozen futuristic DTV flicks of the decade.