Geek headlines recently brought Technotise to North American awareness when a live action American-made movie was announced as in development. The original Serbian animated film is well worth the watch.

The movie Technotise: Edit and I was based on a graphic novel called Technotise by Aleksa Gajic, a Serbian illustrator who illustrated Darko Grkinic's cyberpunk story. You can read the 68 page graphic novel here in the original Serbian.  It told a science fiction tale filled with sex, drugs, fast cars and hoverboards that had nods to Japanese cyberpunk such as Akira, while showing a bubblegum-pop Eastern European flavor.

Be warned that the story includes a futuristic drug-fueled university orgy. It's not for kids.

The plot was pretty standard: The protagonist of the book, a blond art student named Edit, and her friends are hunted by sinister government forces after they discover a hidden tunnel connecting two cities in Serbia. This discovery unearths a web of conspiracy and murder.

Gajic promoted the comic by featuring Edit in a simplistic techno music video called "Bombona," or in English, "Candy." From there, Gajic parlayed Technotise into a feature film, a sequel to the original graphic novel. 

In Technotise: Edit and I, the characters and flavor remains very similar to the original graphic novel, but the story involves a math equation that can predict the future and a cybernetic implant "cheat" that gives Edit the ability to pass her university exams. 

The result is a gorgeous exploration of a cyberpop world where cyborg stuffed animals and robots populate the background of a story celebrating youth.

The plot is deftly written and the dialogue filled with humor. It effectively captures the spirit of young twentysomethings who try hard to cling onto their fun-loving lifestyles while being confronted with dark realities. It's worth the watch...if you can find it.  It is not currently offered on Amazon.

Check out the trailer below.