Following Bob’s foray into game space, experimental filmmaker Peggy Ahwesh takes the plunge in the second interview on “This Spartan Life,” a new talk show filmed in the world of the “Halo” video game series. In 2001, Ahwesh made a Machinima film of her own called “She Puppet” (Machinima is cinema made inside a game engine) using footage culled from months playing the “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” game. So it doesn’t take long for her to feel right at home. This latest interview takes us through some truly spectacular landscapes and “fantasy architecture,” and, of course, features the customary random bursts of violence (not to mention teleportation and a little skull-dribbling).
I think the Spartan Life folks have a good concept here. The conversations are interesting, but what makes them even more compelling is the fact that an exploration is taking place. It’s like walking around in an abandoned film set. Much of it is tongue-in-cheek. “Sometimes you really feel like you’re running through this insane maze, and somebody’s always scoping in on you,” says host Damian Lacedaemion, his helmeted head framed in someone’s crosshairs. “There’s this constant threat of violence hanging in the air around here.” But there’s an element of genuine wonder as well. Two strangers explore a bizarre new world, a world normally governed by rules and a quest. But they are simply rovers, and there is no quest. There is only curiosity and play. As Damian says: “sometimes I think it feels like being in a movie that’s waiting for you to set it in motion.”