In the world of Lapsis, the switch to quantum computing has opened up a new sector of the gig economy: laying fibreoptic cables across all corners of the world. It looks like a good gig to the impoverished Ray (Dean Imperial); he needs to pay for his younger brother’s medical bills, and a little grit and luck could net him big bucks.
Once he takes on the job, however, it’s a different story: walking through trackless miles of forest unrolling a reel of cable is not only gruelling for the flabby, middle-aged Ray, he’s in competition with both more experienced cablers and a tireless little spiderlike robot that dogs his path – if it overtakes him, he loses his route. Even weirder, the fake electronic ID he used to get the job used to belong to someone else and is loaded with points that give him a serious edge. Where did that come from? And what does it portend?
A sly, satirical slice of lo-fi sci-fi, Lapsis comes to us from writer and director Noah Hutton. For a relatively cheap venture, the film is thematically ambitious, taking swings at the tech sector, the gig economy, class conflict, MLMs, and more. We sat down with Noah to try and unpack it.
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