So…OFF WE WENT- taking the metro down to DC again to the Warner Theater, where we had last tackled Denis Leary in a back alley and forced him to sign cigarettes for us, to meet one of the most well known progenitors of the Indy Cinema scene. Oh, and see his newest, most shockingly different movie yet.

Before the show began, Kevin came up on stage to give us in the audience some intel and backstory on the project. While I had heard Kevin Smith was making a horror movie, I had never really read much into it, figuring that, like most of his last few movies, I’d end up seeing it on DVD at some point in the comfort of my own home. Not in this case- I was amidst a sea of maybe two thousand or so Kevin Smith fans, hungry for his second to last project, and certainly his most diverse and unique film in his collection.

So I didn’t know a lot going in. I didn’t know that the badguys were essentially a cartoonized version of the Phelps clan of Everybody Haters, turned into Yosemite Sammites, out to purge the world of everything that used its genitals for non-procreation. Based on Smith’s opening words to the audience, and the final result of the film, it felt like he created this family of yahoos by imagining what it would be like if the Phelps family played too much Grand Theft Auto 3. But more about that when I get to my short review.

Smith explained that he didn’t have so much as hate for the Phelps as frustration. He is always pleasant, and met with equal pleasantness, from the current ring leader, Megan Phelps, who is apparently his number one fan. Smith seems to be making this movie as a catharsis for his feelings towards all Christians who give the religion and community a bad name, especially the Phelps who invoke their faith as a right to hate on everyone. Oh, and he maintains a twittering relationship with said ringleader. When you’re making a movie blasting someone you’re in a a constant twitter poke war with…you’re braving the possibility of painting a crosshair on your back–something I will always give a film maker credit for.  I had known none of this coming in, but now I felt geared up– Smith wasn’t just about to show us a horror movie. He was about to show us his thesis film, akin to that of a film student trying to express his inner demons through art, and that made this expensive viewing all the more interesting.

THE FILM

Opening immediately with a simple white on black title card, I knew I was in for something made to feel like a student documentary. I wasn’t far off. Almost cinema-verite in it’s stylings, Smith’s camera follows it’s protagonist around for the first thirty or so minutes of the movie as we learn, along with him, about the dangerous world of psycho-Christianity. A jarring classroom scene where a history teacher decides to tell it like it is starts our journey down a dark road of a world where freedom of speech can lead to the freedom of ultimate evil.

If not managed correctly. Enter the first act– a satirical  look at the Cooper Family, who stand in for the Phelps, and their media buzz-generating “God Hates Gays” first scene protesting a funeral of a local gay male, murdered in a story that sounds similar to the Shepard tragedy years back. Here Smith makes it clear that this movie is thesis by stating the Problem. When the teacher goes off topic in class and begins her own rant about these “nuckin futz” people, we realize that this isn’t just some local horror story, that this kind of behavior is something that could propagate because we as a country have no legal way of containing it. And when we as Americans cannot control something we deem evil because of our own Constitution, that makes us damned angry.

So, what is the Cause for our Problem? Smith next introduces us to our three lead boys, Travis, Jarod and Billy-Ray, who’s big weekend plans are to gang bang a 40 year old woman they found on a website similar to Craigslist, but just for sex, through their cell phone. Now, I know the Phelps/Cooper clan are both full of evil, mean spirited whack jobs who probably deserve the hell the preach everyone else is going to, but at the same time, these three guys set themselves up to be the ultimate horror movie victims just by sending an email! Smith plays with an old convention but puts enough of a new spin on it that it speaks clearly– we do live in a society with some scummy people, so we should probably expect a little bit of backlash from the Christian Right.

But that’s a little bit. Not a lot. Not, ya know, what the Coopers end up doing to these good ol’ boys once they finally get trapped inside the Five Points Compound…and boy oh boy does it get grim and gruesome.

After a twist I won’t reveal but you can probably predict, the boys end up as human sacrifices for the Cooper family inside their heavily secured, walled off, and Waco inspired fortress. Inside the main Church, a cleansing ritual, not unlike those in the Silent Hill movie, is about to take place. Michael Parks leads the pack of hungry animals as the preacher and head of family Abin Cooper, and delivers what must be one of the longest monologues in movie history.

An entire 10 or 15 minutes is dedicated to Smith using his pen to channel Parks into a representation of every. single. thing. you could possibly despise and fear in a super Christian leader. His flock is not of sheep, but of sharks. He is not a wholesome father, but the freaking Emperor from Star Wars with the Book of God as his force power. He is Hitler minus the mustache but with such a down home charm, that the eerie body tied to a cross behind him is almost never in the spotlight while he gives his testimony to the higher power. Smith’s writing flows so fluidly out of Park’s mouth you would never believe this was the guy who wrote the overtly staged conversations of Dante and Randall in both Clerks films.

Standing motionless, we know what is behind the curtain. We know they are planning something. What is most unsettling is that all of this goes on and on and no one and nothing comes to any sort of rescue or aide. And yet behind Cooper always stands, motionless, that figure tied to a cross under a white cloth. From here on till the big game changer in the mid-point of the movie, Red State becomes the horror film we expected, and shows that Kevin Smith does in fact have more than one dimension to his film making abilities. It’s a rough, wire-tight thriller during this segment, and I highly recommend this part to fans of the genre.

Smith said in some of his Q&A answers after the movie that “unsettling” was one of the key tones he was going for. To yank us out of our comfort zones and just present as unpleasant an image, a feeling, a connotation as possible. It works. Like most horror movies about cults, the family is very cheery in their devil’s deeds. Some of the women respond to this act with an almost orgasmic level of “Thank you Jesus” styled praise. Cooper does tell the children to leave the room before they start the Ritual, sweet as Grandpa Joe from Willy Wonka, but once the work begins we finally realize once and for all the ultimate truth: If a clan like the Coopers, from any extreme religion, could get away with this then yes, they’d probably do it.

Smith doesn’t make his ritual gory, complex, or even overly cruel. It’s not a torture porn moment, and for that he has my full commendation. It is actually scarier because what they Coopers do to their victims is as simple as flipping a light switch. They feel they are only killing insects.

It is only a few more minutes from this scene that the movie changes from being akin to House of 1,000 Corpses into The Devil’s Rejects. From internal haunted-house of the damned movie, into cops-versus-psychos, the last hour or so of the film opens with ATF Agent Kenan, played by John Goodman, waking up, answering a phone call from his superior officer, and giving us another didactic conversation/monologue about this Cooper family.

Smith slyly inserts a line acknowledging that the Phelps also live in this world, but “Aren’t gun nuts” like the Cooper zealots. Again, John Goodman delivers these lines so fluidly that, even though they’re all expository, it makes Smith’s movie all the more credible as we learn almost every thing we need to know about both the real family and this fake one through what is essentially one long winded Wiki article turned monologue. But it’s John Goodman so we don’t mind, we actually thoroughly enjoy getting schooled on the subject.

Smith did his research, and chose the best actors possible for delivering it to us. Thus Act 2 of his thesis is a very powerful argument, as the government agents break some of our own moral beliefs in pursuit of the destruction of this blemish to America’s Image. Yes, the agents get the “kill ‘em all let God Sort ‘Em Out” order. No- you will never believe the wacky conversation John Goodman goes through with his superiors in argument. Yes, John Goodman eventually goes Rambo on some super-Christians. No, the movie does not get much more interesting past this point.

After the gunfire erupts, the movie becomes Smith’s chance at an action film. I feel one of his only flaws with the film is that he has still not learned how to direct action. A few volleys go back and forth, someone you don’t expect to bite the bullet chomps on one hard, and then after that it is about 20 minutes of people shooting guns in three quarter shots, with almost no impact shots accompanying the rhythm. In the background, a far more interesting conversation between the last teenage-boy hostage and one of the Coopers who wishes to escape takes backstage to Goodman deciding whether it is morally right to kill the entire family, including the children. But then again, he doesn’t want his wife “clipping coupons” till he retires.

This all isn’t to say the action isn’t kinetic or valid. It just simply goes on far too long without much change of pace. Abin Cooper stands at the same window with the same sniper rifle firing the exact same shot for nearly 5 minutes. I know this isn’t supposed to be a balls to the wall action fest, and it is supposed to have a documentary feel, but it just loses it’s luster after three or four religious parables are exchanged by the various remaining members of the family.

And just when it feels like the whole movie is about to go over time, and become a slog fest of bullets not-hitting-anything, Smith pulls the most brilliant rabbit out of his ass I have ever witnessed in an independent horror film. I will not spoil it. Suffice it to say it was so out of left field, and so manipulative, and so original that any bit of criticism I just gave the movie is pretty much invalid. Yes, Smith. This is your single most genius moment of film making ever. You have achieved something I’ve never seen in a film like this before. And you have done it flawlessly. Let’s call this the “what if” scenario in Kevin’s thesis. And it is fucking chilling.

After which the film goes into Act 3 mode, a little short in it’s pacing, but it works out well enough. Smith offers a very Coen-esque final thought, and Goodman plays it ever so flawlessly, even when it starts to sag in the writing. The monologue he delivers is meaningful, but I feel like we get the message two lines into it. Smith sorta let’s his writing get the best of him in the end, and I felt we deserved something more bullet point after all of this back-and-forth.

Cut to the final scene. Abin Cooper’s final resting place. The final “quote” if you will. This is a last shot that sums up everything Smith really feels about the subject. Non-violently, and playing off the ideas of freedom of speech from both directions. It hits home very hard with what we really want to say to these people, something we CAN realistically, and SHOULD realistically do. This IS the message Kevin Smith wants to deliver, and is done so with that bullet point I was craving all throughout Goodman’s epilogue. You will feel good about this one. Oh, and if you don’t laugh at it, you’re probably not human.

Post Movie

After the film, Smith did his typical Q&A fest, wherein film nerds, super fans, and just weird people would sit in front of microphones and ask him to tell them they were awesome. I sadly did not get to make it up to the microphone in time, but alas…it was worth it– I probably wouldn’t have had a good question to ask, and in front of all those people Smith would have just started lauding his own film again for another five minutes, regardless of what question I did manage to choke out.

So…yep. Rob and I did the classic fall back– we waited for an hour and a half outside the loading dock, in the rain, to meet this fat bastard. Two people who already got some time on stage with the man were waiting with us, and we joked and gibed for a while. Finally, Smith got on the bus, and we totally missed a chance to see him. Ever vigilant, we were about to create a picket line of our own to demand Smith get off his bus and sign our damned books/pictures etc. Well, we didn’t have to. A very nice dude came off the bus and said “How many of you are there?” Four! We replied. “Come on” he said. Seriously? For serious. So we did. Smith lumbered out of the bus, it’s weight shifting into a sigh of relief under his mass, both of figure and accomplishment- this dude has done a LOT from humble beginnings- and gave us four or five minutes to chat with him, as well as signed my much vaunted SAP Logo, and took one of my biz cards as well.

I even recorded my conversation with him, but I’ll put that up later after I get some editing done with it. For now, enjoy this picture I got with the guy and Rob. Mission: Accomplished.

Hey Tubbs of Fun! Nice to meet ya! Now come over here and like some of my STRIKE A POSE!!! Films!

On the other side of the plate, here’s a couple of quick personal updates about my life in the field:

Personal Work:
I’ve been putting a bit of effort into filming this little documentary for my martial arts school, Self Mastery Systems. Already over 10 hours of footage have been filmed and logged, including interviews, training, and various conversations. The project is super exciting and hopefully will come to fruition by the end of Summer 2010!

I’ve also been interning at the awesome Foreign Language video company, Peanutbutter. I’ve been working with another local filmmaker from Towson, who’s great music videos you can check out here. As for myself, I’ve been learning a lot of green screening and animation. Here’s a couple of video links to let you see some of the demo work  the company has done:

Video Temporarily Down

Finally, this month’s slated film is going to be the FINAL version of Jasper Conroy: Salisbury Bounty Hunter, with fully-featured FX, thanks to John Ianuzzi (System Shock 2 SFX) and new music. Be sure to see the final cut here sometime by the end of this month!

Hopefully we have a couple of new scripts coming our way thanks to the uber-talented Tom Murphy. You can see some of his work on Youtube here. We’re looking to cast some new talent in these new projects, and speaking of which…

Contacts and Adventures:
So let’s say I’ve been scouting. A lot. Lot’s of new talent has been added to our contacts list, and if you’re reading this chances are you’re one of them. The game show I was on, Silver Screen Test, has provided me with a lot of great contacts in Montgomery Public Television, not to mention the other really cool two contestants I met (and matched considerable wits with!).

Also scouted some locations. I ended up wandering around in DC, trying to get home one night after an awesome performance witnessed by myself and Rob Moroney. The performer? Christopher Titus, a personal hero of mine, supplying not only his new standup, NEVERLUTION, but also his now-classic Love is Evol. It was tubular. I got in trouble with him cause I was in the first row and started speaking lines from the show before he could…oops. Here’s an embarrassing picture!

It was a great meeting and Titus was a cool dude. Hopefully someday we can get cast in one of our flicks. Who knows?!?! (/shameless shoutout).

I have also been INCREDIBLY fortunate to get on board a project for ValDean entertainment, the brilliant minds between Johnny B. Homeless and Lennox Ave., starring Al Thompson. Here’s a link about these conquistadors of the internet medium! They’re shooting a new series in Ocean City in late April, and I’ll be down there to help out as an “Assistant Producer”. Excitement, hooooo!

Here’s a trailer for Johnny B.:

http://news.tubefilter.tv/2010/03/26/valdean-entertainments-one-two-punch-johnny-b-homeless-and-lenox-avenue/

Finally, here’s a list of movies I’ve recently watched, and some quick words:

IN THEATERS:

Book of Eli– Excellent Post Apocalyptic Sci Fi actioneer with an ANTI ORGANIZED STUPIDITY story. Definitely check it out. Thoughts?

Shutter Island– Best thriller I’ve seen in ages. Even though you know the ending that is coming, it still wallops you with its dramatic reveal and realization that maybe, sometimes the truth is so bad you don’t want to know it after all.

How to Train Your Dragon (3D)– A charming kids movie that ends like Final Fantasy: Advent Children. Do NOT waste money on seeing this in 3D. This is purely a great 2D spectacle with a few charming moments and video game like ending.

ON DVD:

Frost/Nixon– I kinda put this one aside during last years Oscar’s, and I really wish the Academy hadn’t. This is the kind of movie that would have gone up well against The Hurt Locker this year.

SO much going on! It’s hard to keep up with it all. If there is anything you think I missed, lemme know, and I’ll put it  up in the next post!

A REVIEW

Please be sure to read more under the cut, or go to our forums thread to join in the discussion!

Apparently the main character, the emotionally contained and perfection-centered Jeff Costello, is something of an icon to the cinema that followed, but I had not yet heard his name. Regardless, he is a figure worth appreciating as I’m sure he set a standard for the emotionless hitman (see: Leon, et al) similar to Eastwood’s not-so-nice-cowboy Man With No Name. As far as minimalism goes he doesn’t have much to do with the role but still merits a character of some fascination.

In the meantime he meets a bunch of characters, there is very little dialogue, and everything is meticulously, though not artistically shot. It’s film grammar at its most basic, a term many refer to as “minimalistic.” I refer to it as boring, even for someone who created the French New Wave– a film style I typically despise–and is seemingly going against all the noisy nonsense of someone like the more well-known Godard. If this movie was made by him, it would have been called “Breathless” and it would have sucked. As it stands, it merely takes a while to reach full temperature, never really getting cooked but always simmering. You have to keep an eye on it, even when it looks like it isn’t doing anything.

Granted, there is something worth watching in this movie: The acting is brilliant. Not a single line is wasted by a single character and the look in every pair of eyes holds a deeper meaning than face value. Further, some shots are so well framed they could be eternally iconic photographs of statements on different human emotions, such as authoritarian frustration, lust built on curiosity, or even a complete lack of catharsis. When edited together they tell a very A-to-B story, but on their own many shots tell something far more noteworthy– a moment in time, as films are supposed to do.

The iconic face of Alain Delon.

The star, still-active Alain Delon, is probably one of my new favorite faces, as he has a face practically carved for the camera. There is dimension and gravitas to how he simply moves (or doesn’t move) his eyes in ways I’ve only seen in the likes of Christopher Walken or…bing time is up I couldn’t think of anyone else off the top of my head. He’s really just that interesting to watch. If nothing else, even when I was most bored with this film, the look on Delon’s face kept me watching, almost just out of the desire to see his emotions change! It’s a shame Melville didn’t keep his original ending gestus. I think that’s probably one of the greatest robberies of cinematic history.

So while the movie has sparse action and little actual dialogue about honor codes or morality, we do see some of it through just the main character’s behaviors. I really can say this is practically a silent film with the exception of a few scenes (and music), but it is also a graceful film that does its best to carry its audience moment-to-moment through actual momentum.

I’ll want to watch this movie again for the ace-camerawork involved, because there are some really breakthrough moments in dolly and tripod work that I think a lot of steadycamers in this day and age should pay attention to. People don’t walk around to look at things- they pivot and pedestal. I think this movie explains a lot about how people typically behave, or could behave, in this kind of situation–the smart ones would keep their mouths shut and their eyes open. Its funny, because I wish the average movie going audience would do the same.

In the end, I will watch this movie again, some day. I recommend any film buff gives it a view, but anyone looking for action or swordplay or any sort of intense sequence of violence not put this in your DvD player. Just because it’s called “Le Samourai” doesn’t mean it’s about anything its strange title might suggest. Let’s just finish off the review by putting it this way– this is one of those movies where the title is, thankfully, never spoken.

This is a re-post of my review on Gametrailers.com, the same place where System Shock 2: The First Encounter, premiered. I am reviewing this game because the series has had a huge influence on not only my taste in video games but also my feelings towards film as a narrative tool of  subjective perspective and reality-bending. If you wanna see what movies I’m talking about, just look at either Car Trouble or the recently released Clarity. Anyways, here’s the review! Read behind the cuts for more information. Very limited spoilers.

STORY

Alex Shepard has returned home from the war wearing some old-style army jacket, a couple of dog tags, and carrying a combat knife. I have no idea why. The first scene in the game mimics the series’ vaunted inspiration, Jacob’s Ladder, by having you wheeled through a Hell Hospital on a VERY bumpy gurney. From the outset everything is going well, we even see P-Head lurking the halls…but then.

Alex sees his younger brother and tries to save him from the freaky place he’s in with little to no explanation of what’s going on.

Well to tell you the truth I kind of always liked that angle that Silent Hill has: Your main motivation is that you’ve lost someone you love and you have to find them at all cost (with the exceptions of 3 and 4, hence being the weak parts of the series. Origins was about discovering who Travis was than finding your loved ones, but it worked on its own level). Stories like this tend to work if you care about the character and their motivations, and over time we get to learn a little about Alex, but certainly not enough to see why he’s so nuts about finding Joshua– except for the fact that he’s supposed to. This is what made the protagonist of Silent Hill 2 so interesting: James was looking for his dead wife because he had no where else to turn for answers, but the town of Silent Hill, when he got a letter from her.

As Alex awakens into the real world, he learns that the townspeople of Shepard’s Glen have gone missing, that grotesque monsters have torn into the city streets, and that his parents have become…kinda crazy. Oh, and dudes with pipes are attacking from Silent Hill- the sister town of Shepard’s Glenn that somehow! shares in its evil secrets.

You do meet some creepy supporting characters, a hot chick you’re obviously gonna dog at some point when you get out of Pyramid Head’s grasp, and a tough-as-nails cop who gets a half decent ending. The villains are also pretty decent in tone, and while none of them are fleshed out, they DO get fleshy endings!

GAMEPLAY

Silent Hill: Homecoming takes the best of the old and new and puts it together in terms of combat, but lacks in puzzles and tension.

Combat:
I actually really enjoyed it. Up to a point. Then hated it. Then loved it again. Then realized it was…well. No more complicated really than past games in the series. The new Homecoming’s fighting system revolves around counters and dodging in order to bring a more skilled warrior into the story, and succeeds. Alex Shepard kicks ASS like Liam Neeson in Taken, especially with his combat knife. Which is 90% the only weapon you’ll ever need.

The pros? Combat does look REALLY good. Smooth animations, visible enemy damage, and lots of nifty ways to kill things really gives the combat a visual dynamic if not a functional one. Blood and guts go flying when the shit goes down, and because of Alex’s training, he is rarely squeamish, even when you are. The shooting, when enacted, is actually precise and well-rounded in terms of gun balance, with more firearms than you’d expect. The only trouble with it is the somewhat clunky transition from shooting to dodging, and the near impossible transition between weapons in the PC version. Best part about the guns- when they hit, they hit HARD.

PRESENTATION

The environments that look the best are the Hell levels, which actually gave me goosebumps. It felt like the walls could move at any time and I wouldn’t be able to escape. The feeling of claustrophobia that shot out in these zones really added to the experience, and made the game worth playing on an aesthetic level. This was one of the creepiest games I’ve ever played, just like the old one, and for that it gets major props in areas where others wouldn’t. Silent Hill has a mise-en-scene much like a movie, and this one didn’t disappoint.

Character models are exceedingly well animated even if the textures and polygons aren’t up to snuff on the humans, and the monsters have a sick oily sheen to them that gives off an alien-like quality, as if their whole bodies were covered in blood and saliva. I also dug their look and design, especially the new ones like the Zipperhead and the movie-styled Pyramid Head. Bosses were threatening in appearance, even when their encounters were yawn-inducing at worst. Their appearances, both random and scripted, always was an intense cause for alarm, as the could burst through doors or appear from the shadowy rafters at any time.

Music is once again done by the irreplaceable Akira Yamaoka and it shows- there is no dull moment in the score, and the mood is ALWAYS shifting between somber and terrifying. In a good way.

Even more impressive is the audio design in certain more hellish environments, wherein it feels like the walls are practically alive, and very, VERY angry. I never have felt like an environment wanted to just come alive and crush me more than Silent Hill: Homecoming. And that was with crappy laptop speakers.

VERDICT

What’d you guys think? I can’t wait for another chance to take a trip to Silent Hill. I thought this one had a lot of original ideas it ended up spoiling for no good reason except to wrap the story up into a neat little package. The lack of a thrilling final boss fight was also a major problem, but in general I really wanted to see where this game went. Maybe at some point I’ll reinstall and see different endings and outcomes, but for now, I’m done with it giving me nightmares. I don’t feel like stabbing anyone in my sleep any time soon.

STRIKE A POSE!!! FILMS REVIEWS: FRANKLYN

FRANKLYN is a tale of four very non-connected people being tugged in by that ever-so-invisible fishing line we’re all being reeled in by: Fate. Layered on top of this drama is an action-packed meta-narrative taking place in an abstract alternate world: “Meanwhile City”, a Metropolis-styled Florence with shades of Gotham City, populated claustraphobically with zealots in clothes that could only have been designed by Jim Henson and Tim Burton tripping together acid tabs. In that sense, it sort of plays out like 21 Grams in terms of character and narrative, with the aesthetic sidelines of Dark City-meets-Watchmen. Granted, FRANKLYN was released before the Watchmen film, but it’s safe to say one character was at least texturally inspired by its nihilistic narrator in the squidgy mask.

Does this mix of human drama and otherworld comic-babble work? Well, yes and no. Not 100%. Our four characters each have their own (and I must stress- VERY SEPARATE) narrative strands dealing with the themes of loss, perceptions of reality, faith, and fate. In terms of loss and perception it succeeds on so many levels, but by adding the extra non-Meanwhile characters into the mix, the final product is a little unbalanced. However it’s still one hell of a trip to Disneyland, a remarkable interlude of events that almost feels vacation-like in comparison to the hum-drumness of modern-day emotional disorders.

That’s not to say in the least that the other characters are dull, they merit fascination on their own levels . In London, Eva Green plays Emelia (and another character, but we’ll stick to this), a college art student who’s thesis is filming her own suicide attempts, setting up the situations so paramedics have ample time to pick her up before she knocks on heaven’s door. Her dangerous project is somehow connected to childhood resentments  towards her father and mother, which is only briefly examined.

MEANWHILE, going fist-to-cuffs against Authority in a brown leather trench coat, Ryan Phillipe plays our masked vigilante, John Preest, on a mission against God. But is his vengeful mission real or in his head? In a fantastic use of cinematic distortion, Preest is never in London, occupying only the world he aesthetically belongs to. As he never is shown physically crossing over into contemporary London,  the question grows: Which reality is real, or more importantly, more pertinent?

The oldest character attempts to tie up this question. Peter Esser, played by a soft-spoken Bernard Hill, wanders around London in search of his missing son, giving the London setting also a narrative through line that the Emelia strand lacks. While his character is the least developed of the three Londoners, it is only in conjunction with Preest’s story that there is some sort of narrative “doom” approaching, something to keep the audience looking forward, instead of mulling over the tricky details of the jigsaw plot they’ve been trying to follow.  Thankfully, this is one of the story’s stronger points, for without it, writer-director Gerald McMorrow’s tale wouldn’t have enough suspense to keep this tangled ball of yarn rolling.

Each of these threads are intriguing, but some seem more occupational than others. Sam Riley, for instance, plays the heartbroken Milo, and very well I might add. He’s got a quiet, tender look that draws the viewer into his hurt. Just like all the other characters. However, his story strand is about a failed relationship, a seemingly doomed-before-it-started marriage, and his musings on childhood inspired true love that may or may not have been fabricated.

Emelia, Preest and Esser’s  stories link stylistically and emotionally on a more successful level, and meet up quite appropriately by the end. Milo’s, on the other hand, is simply used as a tool to perform one of the few predictable moments of the film. It’s a shame, because on his own merit, Sam Riley gives a strong performance and the story itself would make for a half-decent short film.

From http://tobatheinfilmicwaters.com/2009/07/27/review-franklyn/

It’s not that it doesn’t feel at home with the piece, it’s just that it doesn’t reach the same caliber of anguish that the other characters must be going through. Yes, it follows the theme of perception, and to an event more supernatural extent, faith and fate. But by the end of the movie Milo’s payoff is cheap and, dare I say, Hollywood? I really shouldn’t, this movie is about as anti-Hollywood as you can get, even while wearing a mask and fighting a fascist state.

More time would have been better spent on developing the personal demons of the other three characters. We only get, criminally enough, one brief don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-it shot of why Emelia is so determined on not-killing herself over her father. The fate of Esser’s son may come clean by the end, but Preest’s motivation towards saving a little girl’s life is hardly revealed– it floats in the background but never reaches the surface. Movies like this toe the line between rewatchable intrigue and an infuriating desire to ram your finger into the pause button.

As for my own evaluation, I’m gonna have to say I find this movie the former, even if during its viewing I was leaning towards the latter, and gladly would watch it again and again if not just for its cool visuals, well-directed acting, and incredible piano score. The mood of this movie is always appropriate, even when it jars you from personal stories of emotional breakdowns to moments of hardboiled-fantasy action. Even more of a plus is when the final twist plays out, the mystery 0f Meanwhile City will make sense, and fortunately it’s the groovy kind of sense that a lot of first time writer-directors aspire, often fruitlessly, to convey.

…With all that said and done…I’m still trying to figure out the mystery behind that link…

http://strikeaposefilms.com/2009/02/05/previewfranklyn…hmmm….dammit wait…what? WHAT THE?

… looking at the date in that link I apparently wrote that preview EXACTLY ONE YEAR AGO TO THIS DAY (Well, yesterday, I started watching it last night, power went out…fell asleep…etc). Based on the content of this film that’s kind of spooky, kinda DAMN SPOOKY, because this is one of those strange, dreamy films that plays on that theme of fate. Smack me on the face and call me crazy! I think I’m going to Meanwhile…