Staring at gears in Mechanical Principles

If you have any interest in how things actually work—or if you just need a break from the loud, colorful mess of modern movies—you should probably put on Mechanical Principles. It’s definitely not for the plot-obsessed crowd who needs a hero to save the day. If you hate slow, repetitive stuff, stay away. But if you’re the type of person who stares at clockwork until your eyes cross, you’ll dig it.

It’s mostly just pistons moving up and down. Then some gears spin. Then a rod shifts. That’s it, really. Ralph Steiner just points the camera at these bits of metal and lets them go, and somehow it’s weirdly comforting. It reminded me a bit of the quiet, dusty feel in The Sweet Dry and Dry, though obviously much less frantic.

There’s this moment where a screw starts revolving, and you expect it to do something important. It never does. It just keeps spinning. I found myself waiting for a twist, but there isn't one. The movie doesn't care if you're bored, which is honestly kind of refreshing.

The rhythm is everything here. You start to track the movement of the teeth on the gears, and after a few minutes, the screen feels like it's breathing. It’s mechanical, sure, but it feels oddly alive. It's a lot more focused than the scattered energy you get in something like A Jungle Romeo.

The lighting on the metal is surprisingly sharp. You can see the grime and the oil in the shadows. I spent way too much time looking at a specific joint that keeps swinging, wondering who built it and if they knew it would be on film a hundred years later. Probably not.

It’s a short watch. If you don't like it, you haven't lost much time anyway. Just don't go in expecting a story. It's just shapes, moving. ⚙️