CLEARANCE relentlessly quotes and ridicules popular computer games and their infamous plots: In what seems like a futile endeavor, the »hero« strays through a labyrinth of endless corridors, while constantly fighting off ugly creatures, half-humans-half-pigs. Incidentally he rapes and mangles a mysterious naked woman . . . Trash? – You bet!
At the end, inmidst a magical forrest, the »Hall of Fame« turns into a mischievous »Walhalla« (the »Hall of the Fallen Warriors«).
Long steadycam shots in a sterile 1970s school building immitate the computer generated navigation through artificial terrain. Filmed in 1998, years before Columbine, at a time when large pixels were still a characteristic attribute of the computer game image, CLEARANCE is an ironic and cunning excursion into the realms of a perverted entertainment industry.
