Sundance 2012 Review: Excision

Every year at Sundance, there’s one movie that makes you go, “What the F*!# was that???”  This year is no exception… Excision is definitely that movie.  And shocker, I thought it was great.  Although, holy hell should the phrase, “NOT FOR EVERYONE” be used in every discussion about this warped, twisted, confusing, entertaining, and wholly original flick.  This baby has cult classic written all over it.

A friend of mine labeled this movie as “entertaining but unreleasable.”  Well, he may be right by typical standards, but never forget about us twisted souls that enjoy a messed up, “unreleasable” movie.  It’s for that reason that I think it is releasable, just in different markets from the multiplex.  The multiplex would have to issue record refunds if the general audience had access to this baby, but the art house crowd will eat it up.  Excision isn’t an easy movie to describe, but I’ll try to give it the ole heave ho.  If I was forced to label it succinctly I’d say, imagine if 80′s David Cronenberg directed Pretty in Pink… but instead of pink, make it red.  Blood red.  Good lord is there a lot of blood in this movie.  But it’s not the gore that makes it disturbing, it’s the protagonist we follow.

Saying Pauline is a weird girl is like saying the surface of the sun is a little warm.  Pauline is messed up… and she’s our eyes and ears of this world.  She does everything she can to look unappealing.  She says anything on her mind to whoever will listen, including asking her sex ed teacher if you can get an STD from having sex with a dead body (and she’s not joking in her enquiry.)  She dreams of being a surgeon, sometimes even practicing on the occasional dead animal.  Oh, and she has an insane obsession with blood… dreaming about it, toying with it, even tasting it.  When we enter her dreams, we enter a stylistic dreamland filled with some of the most twisted sex+gore related sequences you could imagine.  These are messed up for sure.  But it’s her real-life blood-related curiosities that make for some of the most cringe-inducing scenes.  One scene in particular literally had our audience groan louder than anything I’ve heard in a while.  I won’t ruin it for you, but wow.

Now, what makes this movie interesting to me is the fact that it seems to follow the John Hughes style of following around the outcast in a high school full of jocks and popular girls.  She has a horrific relationship with her overly religious mother.  Her father is nothing but a waste of space.  Nothing around her seems to fit with her.  In movies of this type, she’s the one we root for against the rest of the garbage around her.  But as an audience, we’re uncomfortable “rooting” for her because while one second you’re right alongside her in her opinion, the next scene she’s getting off in her dreams hopping on top of a beheaded body and grinding on it.  You’re pulled each and every direction, but that’s what so damn awesome.  You just feel “off” every step of the way, and honestly have no idea what you’re thinking, let alone what Pauline is.

Now, to go into the rest of the details of this movie would be a travesty, but just know that it has cult classic written all over it.  It’s a story of a high school outcast, her thoughts, the people she meets, dealing with her family, and trying to discover herself in the process. But it’s all seen through the eyes of what could almost be described as a sociopath.  And hell, of course it has cult classic written all over it when Traci Lords is cast as the overly religious mother; Ray Wise is a strange, overly republican principal; Marlee Matlin, yes, Marlee Matlin, is a counselor at the school; Malcolm McDowell as a math teacher; and freaking John Waters as a PRIEST.  All I’d have to say is John Waters is a priest and I think you know exactly the type of material you’re dealing with here.  But throw all of that in, and top it off with a final 5 minutes that will have audiences talking, and you’ve got yourself some twisted gold.

At the Q&A, the director stated that John Waters himself told him that, “this is a really weird movie.”  Now trust me people, if John Waters says that, you should know what you’re getting yourself mixed up in.  But for those of us who hear those words and can’t wipe the smile off our faces, this movie is right down your alley.

Enjoy it, kids.  I can’t wait until more people see this and we can all talk about the last 5 minutes… let alone the journey we took to get there.

Sundance 2012 Review: The First Time

Most people remember the first time they fell in love.  You’re young.  You’re kind of an idiot.  You don’t really know exactly what you’re feeling, but strangely you both like and hate it at the same time.  Awkwardness abounds, but it’s exciting.  All these feelings and emotions are on display in the movie The First Time.  It’s a charming little ditty that won’t wow you with anything exceptional, but takes you along for a gentle and adorable little ride.  It’s like an early crush on the “sweet” girl…  cozy and fun for a while, her smile makes you warm inside, but eventually you move on to that more twisted, dangerous girl with the tattoo.  The First Time is kind of like that sweet girl.  So as long as you aren’t into the dangerous types (like me, I admit), you’ll enjoy this sweet girl of a film.

Many times at Sundance the term “independent movie” equals “very talky movie.”  The First Time is no different.  This film is very talky.  There is a lot of dialogue on display here, helped in part by the actors who always seem to nervously pack a few extra sentences into time spans usually allotted for less.  The opening scene is basically 10+ minutes of just the two leads escaping from a party and meeting in an alley.  It’s dialogue heavy and went on a little long for me, but I see what the director was doing.  He wanted to show in its entirely how two random strangers can build a quick connection.  It’s cute, if at times a little contrived.  After these two are able to find this initial connection, the rest of the movie is dedicated to following their connection over the course of a weekend, and it goes from there.

I’ll admit it started a little slow for me.  The extremely lengthy opening scene aided in that.  But it starts to build on you.  Following these two well cast actors as they both discover the “first time” they truly connect with someone of the opposite sex is pretty damn adorable.  And a lot of that is due to the casting of two people that actually have a fantastic chemistry together.  In a romantic comedy, chemistry is top of the list in importance for me.  And here, these two just have it.  With that chemistry, we as an audience will travel with them regardless of scenario because since we can see that they actually work together well, we are vested in pulling for them.  The roadblocks and contrivances (yes there are a few) thrown in to break them up doesn’t matter to us because at the core, we’re all softies and want to see two people that should be together, be together.  And it’s all because of chemistry.  Kudos to the casting team and the director for nailing that so perfectly.

Some of the external bits or characters didn’t quite fit with me.  Some just felt there superficially.  Others just felt tacked on to try and make the film feel more “well rounded”, but in the end I didn’t really care.  It’s about the couple.  It’s pleasant to follow them and made me think back to my own high school experiences, and the pitter patter we all felt when we liked someone.  It’s a nice feeling.

Even a hardened horror guy like myself found myself grinning in the end, so regardless of minor quibbles, I guess that’s what this kind of movie is about.  We all love the scary tattooed bad girl (or boy), but let’s be honest, we need to crush on a sweet girl every once in a while.  The First Time is that sweet girl.  Go ahead and take her for a sweet spin.

Sundance 2012 Review: Indie Game: The Movie

To quote the Transformers, something that definitely helped craft my childhood, as well as that of the programmers in the film, Indie Game: The Movie is definitely more than meets the eye. At first look this is a glimpse into the world of independent programmers that most people don’t even know exists. But as you watch you begin to realize that the overall themes stretch far further than this simple premise. This is a story about any kind of entrepreneurial person that decides to follow their creative dreams and dedicate their life to following their passion. And as someone that fits that bill, this movie spoke to me on a very personal level. It’s perfect that Sundance, a showcase of independent filmmaking and proving ground for this kind of human being, chose it for its premiere.

Everything about this movie epitomizes independent. From the subjects in the film trying desperately to complete something extraordinary all by themselves, outside the “system”… to the filmmakers themselves, who used the crowd sourcing site Kickstarter as a way to actually get this movie made. Watching it from both points of view, you get a kind of postmodern look at true independence on two different levels. It’s the kind of thing that validates anyone who has gone through these trenches.

The movie itself follows a number of different independent programmers, but really hones in on three personal stories. One is the story of two, some might call them, “outcasts” who are trying to get their game Super Meat Boy released through the massive Microsoft XBox Marketplace. Another is the story of someone who literally puts his personal life stories into the game he’s making, and gets annoyed when people don’t see the deeper meaning he’s trying to portray. And the third is the gut-wrenching journey of a man who was throned a superstar with a bonafide hit on his hands far before the game was even finished. Now over four years later, he still hasn’t finished nor released it, due to his obsessive qualities and life changing trials. All three stories have more heart and soul than most Hollywood movies. We feel their trials. We experience every bump in the road. We are literally dragged through the mire time and time and time again. But we see these guys push through it all, and in the end, that’s what is so uplifting about this film. It shows people at their absolute most depressed and beaten down, but continue to courageously push through because it’s their passion. It’s seriously emotional stuff and one that I honestly feel most people could relate to in their own lives.

Indie Game: The Movie may not get as many older viewers because they could care less about gaming, but I’m here to spread the word. This movie at its core isn’t about gaming at all. It’s about struggle, following your dreams no matter how difficult, and staying true to yourself through it all. It’s really a powerful movie that comes out of what, at first, you think is a benign subject. But trust me, as you finish the film you realize there is nothing benign about these games at all. These games are essentially these people’s hearts poured out onto a screen. Truly fascinating and gripping. I highly recommend this film.