WE NEED TO TALK
"What happens when authentic emotions are born within a corrupt system?"
A short film about a love-hate relationship between Arnar and a 1993 Mazda 323F
Exploring the complexities of modernity, romance, and cars through an autobiographical fictional narrative
Short film
22 min
2025
We Need to Talk confronts the paradox of loving something that is harmful. Through an allegorical love story with a 1993 Mazda, the project reflects on the emotional entanglement with cars, romantic ideals, and modernist values in Western society.
The narrative unfolds across three layers:
1 The personal connection with the car
2 The societal ideals tied to cars and relationships
3 a broader critique of Modernity itself.
Blending autobiography, fiction, and documentary, the project engages in a meta-reflection on performance, identity, and the sensory experience of living in a car-dominated world.
Through tactile visual sequences and anthropomorphized perspectives, the film challenges conventional narratives, asking how emotions shaped by modern systems can be both genuine and constrained.
Auto-Introspection is a reflective essay on the process of making WE NEED TO TALK.
Chapters include:
1 Thematics
2 Blending genres // Ideals
3 Performance of Self
4 Haptic visuality
Auto-Introspection_Reflective_Essay_Arnar_Gustafsson.pdf
