On an overcast morning in 1999, William Gibson, father of cyberpunk and author of the cult-classic novel "Neuromancer," stepped into a limousine and set off on a road trip around North America. The limo was rigged with digital cameras, a computer, a television, a stereo, and a cell phone. Generated entirely by this four-wheeled media machine, No Maps For These Territories is both an account of Gibson's life and work and a commentary on the world outside the car windows. Here, the man who coined the word "cyberspace" offers a unique perspective on Western culture at the edge of the new millennium.
Gibson talks about his own personal philosophies, experiences, and opinions about the media-saturated culture in which we live. The conversation provides a compelling glimpse at the radical, genius writer whose 1984 novel Neuromancer forever changed the concept of the Internet. Gibson also describes his need to distance himself from that breakthrough novel, and his other topics -- post-humanity, the "mediated" world, drugs, the birth of cyberpunk, technology and pornography, his method of writing, and much more -- combine to provide a definitive portrait of Gibson on the cusp of a new millennium, as the real world evolves to resemble the world of his fiction.
Mark Neale (director) breaks up Gibson's monologues with complementary interviews from such luminaries as Bruce Sterling, Jack Womack, and Bono and The Edge. He also punches up this rolling conversation with some clever editing and a wide assortment of effects, distorted images, and high speed, reverse, splitscreen and trick photography. The result is a fitting context to reflect upon the technology, ideas, and concepts that dominate Gibson's fiction.
