Directed by Ian Hinden | Dances With Films 2025
“Making it overwhelming felt like racing the AI before it catches up.”
— Ian Hinden, filmmaker
By Valerie Milano
Palm Springs, CA (The Hollywood Times) 6/28/25 – To describe Ian Hinden’s Would You Call Him a Bad Man? as a music video is both technically accurate and woefully incomplete. Part digital fever dream, part gamified social parable, part trauma-core dispatch from the front lines of online exploitation, the piece—screening at Dances With Films—is dense, disorienting, and at times dazzling.
Hinden, who describes himself not just as a director and musician but also as a video game programmer, explained the project’s chaotic design in our exclusive interview:
Hinden, who describes himself not just as a director and musician but also as a video game programmer, explained the project’s chaotic design in our interview: A large part of the design and inspiration behind Would You Call Him a Bad Man?’ is video games… I like the idea of a story that moves on whether you press buttons or not.”
That restless, relentless rhythm runs through every frame. Taking cues from fast-cut, mini-game aesthetics à la MarioWare, the video bombards the viewer with iconography: glitching avatars, rapid-fire UI overlays, code fragments, and a character-select menu where the choices feel less empowering and more oppressive.
“The internet is its own medium now. People pause, replay, even download code to inspect it… It meets you wherever you’re willing to go.”
“The internet is its own medium now. People pause, replay, even download code to inspect it… It meets you wherever you’re willing to go.” The internet is its own medium now. People pause, replay, even download code to inspect it… It meets you wherever you’re willing to go.”
And make no mistake, this piece requires an active audience. The plot is intentionally fragmented, nearly indecipherable on first watch. But, as Hinden says with a grin, that’s the point:
“It’s intense by design… I’d say: watch it again. Pause, look for hidden elements, unlock that secret character.”
Still, beneath the visual chaos lies something more urgent. Hinden’s work channels real anger—especially at systems that mask exploitation behind the veneer of choice. One inspiration, he says, came from a mutual aid request on Twitter that quickly turned predatory.
A woman requested a few hundred dollars to avoid eviction. Men replied -‘happy to help if you do something for us, since you’re a pretty young woman.’ That stuck with me.”
That moment reemerges in the film’s darkest set piece: a distorted “character select” screen where avatars represent women trapped in transactional dynamics. Hinden calls this inversion a kind of protest—a stark reminder that so-called empowerment often masks coercion.
There’s a hidden character you unlock—a congresswoman based on AOC—to symbolize radicalization: when the system overwhelms you, you may decide you must become part of its change.”
In just over four minutes, Would You Call Him a Bad Man? is a short burst of defiance, equally influenced by 8-bit aesthetics and socio-political unease. It doesn’t offer easy answers, and it doesn’t pretend to be comforting. It’s built for replay, reinterpretation, and maybe even resistance.
For some, it may be too much—too frenetic, too fragmented. But that, again, is by design.
As Hinden put it: “Our role as artists is to be as loud and bombastic as we can—at least while we still can.”
Verdict
Bold, brash, and unapologetically overwhelming, Would You Call Him a Bad Man? dares viewers to catch up—and rewards those who do with a layered commentary on exploitation, identity, and agency in the age of algorithms. It’s not for the passive viewer, but it’s made for the era we live in.
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
For more, visit IanHinden.com or follow @IanHinden across social platforms. Watch for the hidden character—you’ll know her when you see her.
