Magic Molecule
1964 · 9m · Canada
Directed by Hugh O'Connor, Christopher Chapman
Genres: documentary
Tones: whimsical
Plastics derived from coal, oil or wood are introduced as versatile synthetic materials used to make products from silk-like threads to furniture.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A 1964 NFB industrial doc that treats plastics like a utopian miracle—which is exactly the kind of earnest, now-ironic premise that makes for perfect midnight-slot provocation; the whimsy here is accidentally subversive.
Chapman and O'Connor's formal restraint and luminous treatment of synthetic materials situates this squarely in the NFB's documentary lineage, where industrial subjects become vessels for formal experimentation and visual grace.
The decision to shoot plastics with the same reverent, almost jewel-like cinematography usually reserved for nature documentaries is what makes this work—a single tonal choice that reframes the entire subject and justifies the nine minutes completely.