Daft Punk’s Electroma truly is one of those films that you either love or hate with all your being. With it’s premiere screened at Cannes, reviews were mixed with a near-equal amount of both praise and indifference. A complete lack of dialogue isn’t the first step towards endearing your audience to your live action cinematic debut, but then again Daft Punk have always walked their own creative path with visible success: if any proof were required, one need only take a look at their masterpiece of audio/visual symbiosis, Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003).

It can be difficult to go into a lengthy description of Electroma without spoiling much of the plot. The basic premise is of two robots (you should know which robots they are!), both on a quest of sorts. If you’ve kept up with Daft Punk’s general theme over the years, it should be readily apparent what that quest is, but it won’t upset your enjoyment of the film if you’ve figured it out by now. There is little in the way of surprises, and the plot flows in a formulaic fashion that has been played out in cinematic form hundreds of times before. But you get the feeling that Daft Punk aren’t overly concerned with building up strong characterisation and complex relationships. They just wanted to make a film about two robots that contained an exceptionally beautiful image in every single frame available.

Yes, this is where Electroma comes into it’s own – it’s visual style. Evoking memories of seventies filmstock and wide angle shots that Stanley Kubrick would feel right at home with, each scene bleeds with colour and atmosphere to the point where you realise that there really is no need for dialogue. The dream-like imagined Americana is bursting with so much detail that your visual senses are so flooded that actors chatting away really would be nothing more than a distraction.

So, on to the soundtrack. What? No Daft Punk? Shattering the hopes of fans the world over, Daft Punk chose not to release a new album’s worth of material to accompany Electroma’s visual feast. Instead, we are given an insight into Daft Punk’s wide musical taste with a number of tracks more befitting of the film. From the laid back souful sound of Curtis Mayfield to the classical throes of Chopin, every track seems to fit the mood perfectly. It’s nothing less than you’d expect from Daft Punk, who really have a talent for this sort of thing by now.

As no official soundtrack is yet to present itself (you are welcome to try and look!), bosbos.net has taken it upon itself to make available the sounds of Electroma to give potential viewers of the film the chance to aurally soak up it’s atmosphere until they have the chance to see it (there are rumours of a DVD release in the autumn). All tracks used in the film are included, bar one track – a piece by Haydn which was unavailable at this time. Enjoy the sounds of a future past, and be sure to catch the film to decide where your critical allegiance lies.

[Daft Punk - Electroma (Unofficial Soundtrack] (50.7MB)