What do you call it when a filmmaker takes the present day and makes it futuristic? Andrew Niccol, who wrote The Truman Show and directed Gattaca, says his movies take place “five minutes into the future.” But that’s kind of a mouthful. We need a term that you can ask for at your indy video store.
You could always borrow “mundane science fiction,” a term that’s sweeping the literary SF world. But the word “mundane” doesn’t conjure up images of a taut thriller, does it? There’s also “near future,” but that could encompass films set in 2027. The Village Voice has used the five-minutes-into-the-future tag to describe films as diverse as Fight Clubhttp://www.villagevoice.com/livoice/9942,m… and Demonlover. So what do you think? What’s a snappy term for a movie that takes place in a few minutes?
