Impulse: Playing with Reality is an interactive documentary narrated by Tilda Swinton that explores ADHD through mixed reality.
Having narrated 2021's Goliath: Playing with Reality, ANAGRAM confirmed that actress Tilda Swinton will return for Impulse, the second Playing With Reality installment, and that's co-produced by Floréal and France Télévisions. Co-directed by Barry Gene Murphy and May Abdalla, it looks at the stories of four people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Impulse: Playing with Reality uses a documentary storytelling approach. Omar focuses on risky heists, Errol leans into a "madcap" persona to earn respect, Leanne views her world like a video game to overcome boredom, while Tara often feels like completely giving up. ANAGRAM stated it's combined Impulse's storytelling with "rigorous" research around mental health conditions, advising it interviewed neuroscientists and psychologists about "the severe end of the ADHD spectrum."
I recently went hands-on during Venice Immersive 2024 via Quest 3, and what sets Impulse apart from other XR documentaries is how it comparatively portrays these stories. While JFK Memento imposes live-action footage over virtual environments and Fragile Home focuses more on environmental storytelling, Impulse portrays each person as an animated figure in an MR setting across a room-scale environment.
Interactivity is admittedly light and you're mostly witnessing these stories get told, though moving closer to the environments makes them appear. A brief minigame tries demonstrating the ADHD thought process by asking you to arrange, though the execution is unusual. You hoover up some of your play space with one controller, turn that into an object, and then shoot said object to its matching item in another. It's a very basic premise, though the aptly named "panic" stage effectively demonstrates the inability to focus.
Using mixed reality offers an interesting avenue for storytelling, and Tilda Swinton puts in a strong narrated performance that conveys empathy with the subject matter. That said, not all of the visual ideas are effective. This is the first time I've ever felt uneasy with mixed reality motion, and seeing an animated virtual playground shift position rapidly threw off my sense of balance. What's more impressive is how one scene handles a fear of heights, placing you on top of a building and watching the digital landscape distort as you move closer to the edge.
I wouldn't call Impulse: Playing With Reality particularly groundbreaking, but it resonates in ways I didn't anticipate. These stories are undeniably exceptional, and though I don't wish to spoil this short experience by detailing them too closely, certain aspects were certainly relatable to my own struggles. The subject matter is handled carefully, and I'd say it's worth a look.
Impulse: Playing With Reality reaches the Meta Quest platform this September. Venice Immersive 2024 is running until September 7th, and you can find out more below.
Henry Stockdale
Update Notice
This article was initially published on July 30, 2024. It was updated on August 31, 2024, with impressions following a hands-on session at Venice Immersive.
