Austrian Johannes Grenzfurthner travels across America, whilst searching for nerd culture in the fascinating documentary feature – Traceroute. Check out our review.
Growing up, there was a real stigma attached to being labelled a nerd or a geek. It was a label used to bully other kids that weren’t “normal”; people who loved certain subjects so much, they had to know every single piece of information involved in it and they also incorporated that subject into their everyday lives. Now, it seems that nerds and geeks rule the world. Just look at the success of such “nerds” as Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Richard Branson.
Austrian Johannes Grenzfurthner is a self-confessed nerd and the man behind the world famous Monochrom – the art, technology and philosophy group who also have a magazine. Traceroute sees Johannes take to the roads of America in search for all things nerdy alongside two of his friends, and it really is a great watch.
To start the film, Johannes takes the audience on a trip through his childhood and it was quite scary to watch – scary in it being almost a complete reflection of my own childhood. Like Johannes, I was obsessed with science fiction, monsters, movies and creating short films with my non-actor friends. This trip back in time was a perfect start for the documentary.
When the filmmaker finally reaches the shores of the good ole’ United States, we the audience already have an idea of how the documentary will play out. Johannes takes us on a tour and visits such sights as Area 51, Stan Winston’s studio, the house used in Poltergeist and many more utterly interesting places.
Traceroute is a really well, put together documentary film. It is shot nicely with good sound and edited in a sublime manner to captivate the audience and keep us interested throughout the two hour runtime. Not once did I ever get bored, I joined Johannes and his companions on a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and I totally enjoyed my time with them.
If you do so happen to be lucky enough to be given the chance to watch this documentary, embrace the geek in yourself and make sure you do. I did and I fu$*ing loved it.
Traceroute – a fantastic documentary, though I will never look at cheese the same way again. Bleugh.
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