Worth: $12.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Elsa Kennedy, Cheska Zaide, Jonathan Mankuta, Holly Rockwell
Intro:
… this disjointed snapshot into grim lives is bold in its execution.
A robbery gone wrong sends already-troubled twentysomethings George (Elsa Kennedy), Renka (Cheska Zaide) and Kai (Steven Michael Martin) spiralling, after the woman whose house they’re looting comes home unexpectedly and ends up killed when the invaders panic. Faced with a tragedy that will either bind them or break them apart, the trio must decide how they’ll deal with the reality of what they’ve done.
Writer/director/producer/composer Joe Bartone has a hand in every aspect of the making of this film, from concept to creation, and he doesn’t hesitate in taking us down the most twisted of roads. From awkward amateur drag to disenchanted slackers stealing unsuspecting dogs from dog parks; from rape, sitophilia and necrophilia, to bloody beatings with a skateboard and just plain awful beat poetry. With characters like this, it’s hard to know exactly how emotionally invested we’re supposed to become in their struggles, but nonetheless this disjointed snapshot into grim lives is bold in its execution.
Earning itself a host of awards on the festival circuit, the film is visually imaginative, shifting from the overexposed, sun-bleached LA streets to moody black and white, broken by the vibrant neon of a cheap wig and a splash of animation reminiscent of a ‘90s street zine. The framing allows no escape, the audience forced to confront every bleak twist right alongside the characters, bearing witness as Buzz (Kent Harper), a man decades older than our protagonists and yet somehow part of their circle, goes on an uncomfortably long rant denouncing woke culture and painting himself as the racist, homophobic, misogynistic, Trump-supporting villain of the piece; a monologue that doubles as a to-do list as Buzz spends the rest of the film being nothing short of vile.
There’s no room for subtlety on this stage, and it does feel like a stage at times. The dialogue is a combination of naturalistic and theatrical. Entirely unprompted, characters toss out lines like “If I could have any superpower, it would be to forget,” and then jump tangents to comment on the stale chips they’re munching. The structure is framed by asides from mystical narrator Isaiah (Turen Robinson), who seemingly knows all, but can only speak in riddles, poetry, and clichéd words of wisdom.
Don’t let the title fool you, this is a flickering slideshow of polaroids showing a day in the life of three nobodies who came to Hollywood to be Somebody, and ended up in a self-perpetuating cycle of apathy, desperate to make a move, even if it’s the wrong one.
