Resurrect Dead

Yesterday I had an opportunity to sit down and watch a new documentary entitled: Resurrect Dead.  The movie is about strange tiles that have popped up in different cities along the East-coast and as far west as Kansas City, since the early 1980s.  The tiles are referred to as "Toynbee Tiles" because of the cryptic message each bears.

 The film initially follows a man named Justin who has been a "fan" of the tiles since he first saw one back in the 1980s while living in Philadelphia.  With the advent of the internet at his public library, Justin was able to find others like him, who had seen these tiles, and meet up with them.  When he searched the internet he discovered the tiles were not only found in Philadelphia but in cities all over.  With the help of a few other guys and the documentary team, Justin embarks on an investigation into the mysterious tiles, and where it leads him is very interesting.  The mysterious nature of the tiles, in idea, message and purpose, is what really drives this film.  I was kept in a state of almost perpetual anticipation for the whole 90 mins of this film.  Each clue, each lead, each suspect, each dead end just pushes you further into this strange and fascinating world as you, along with the guys in the film, speculate as to what the meaning behind these tiles is.  Who did it?  How did they do it?  What are they trying to accomplish?  OR is it just some elaborate guerrilla/street art project masquerading as something more?  The film addresses these questions and I think it does it very well.  I was at first overwhelmed with internal questioning and rationalizing when the film started, the whole thing was just sooo bizarre to me, especially if the creator was indeed serious about the message he was conveying.  What type of person does this?  It just gets weirder as they dig deeper and it really gets you into it.  I felt myself sharing the emotions of the "detectives", the frustration as they come so close again and again and then lose the trail, the excitement when something clicked and they made progress, it feels like you (the audience) are going on this adventure together with these three guys, and really you are, the film does a great job of capturing this.  When it ends, you'll be satisfied, but there will still be that undercurrent of the mysterious that can not be done away with no matter what the explanation, and I'm glad, because it's nice to wonder sometimes.  I thoroughly enjoyed this film and I highly recommend it.  If you happen to check it out, let me know what you thought!

Here's the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7g-7x-Ib60