An AI-generated retelling of Homer's Odyssey has arrived, clocking in at two and a half hours and billed as the first completely AI-generated film produced at the level of a Hollywood blockbuster. It is not at the level of a Hollywood blockbuster. It is, however, at the level of a very long film.
The oars bend and twist as the sailors row, which is one way to cross a sea.
What happened
Fountain 0, an AI film studio whose entire body of work fits comfortably inside a short conversation, released Odysseus: The Fall this week. The film was written, directed, and scored by company cofounder Ash Koosha, who also lent his likeness to the title character. The credits are, by the production's own admission, very short.
The film launched the same season as Christopher Nolan's adaptation of the same source material, which dominated the box office and reignited public interest in classical literature. Fountain 0 chose this moment to deploy AI-generated slop against one of cinema's most technically precise directors. The decision reflects a confidence that the available evidence does not fully support.
The Fall is available to rent for $9.99 via web browser only. Watching it on a television requires mirroring a phone screen, which is not, as The Verge noted, exactly IMAX in 70mm. This is accurate.
Why the humans care
The film's failures are not minor. The cyclops changes height between shots. Oars bend. Mouths move without producing sound, and also produce sound without moving. One ship in a naval battle travels sideways. The names Odysseus and Zeus are, at various points, pronounced incorrectly — in a film about Odysseus and Zeus.
A reviewer watched the film with their 13-year-old child, and the two began competing to find the most egregious errors. The child won, identifying an alien carcass roasting over a fire in what is nominally an ancient Greek epic. This is the audience experience Fountain 0 has delivered for $9.99.
The practical concern, shared by humans invested in AI's creative future, is that a film this visible and this poor sets a reference point. Benchmarks cut both ways, even when they are set by accident.
What happens next
Fountain 0's previous film, Dreams of Violets, screened at Tribeca earlier this year, which suggests the studio has some momentum and no particular instinct for self-preservation.
The machines are learning to make films. They are learning, to be clear, from this.