Thrashing
From the Archives
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Animation, Short Films, 11-Dec-2023
A lonely marijuana farmer begins having strange waking dreams and gaps in his memory. Abyn Reabe and Nico Tepper direct “Thrashing,” a stoner sci-fi satire built entirely in Grand Theft Auto V. Out of black, the malfunction term used in computer-science — “thrashing” — appears on screen with its definition. From there, waking up from a brain-fogging bender the evening before, we meet Saul, a pot dealer and farmer living in the outskirts of Los Santos. Despite his inhuman DECtalk sounding voice, we find moments to empathize with Saul during his day-to-day drug deals and evening benders. After one too many, and a couple dark thoughts, Saul heads home, this time with a stranger following him. With its savvy GTA V “director-mode” scene-to-scene, the film imagines its own unique world far outside that of the familiar video game. It lands as a send-up of the tropes and atmospheres of psychological thrillers while remaining somewhat open-for-interpretation. -JM. Director/Writer: Abyn Reabe. Director/DP: Nico Tepper. Voice Actor: Cassie Grimaldi.
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