As irresistible as this film appears to be, don’t be thrown by the pretenses of the “indie virus”. Now, you may be unfamiliar with the aforementioned malady but let me be plain: it is no laughing matter.
Beware. The contaminant is subtle but significant. Its deception, of both the makers and the viewers, is tempting and total. It occurs when a fledgling director has taken the necessary steps to acquire a basic knowledge of films and its techniques. Armed with the insularities standard of higher education these starry-eyed kids brimming with ego try out every tool at their disposal, bombarding their audience in an attempt to prove just about anything.
“Uncertainty” is among the infected.
Lots of artsy photography. Dutch angles. Close-up handheld shots of brooding young people in cool lighting. Flashy graphics. Freeze frames. HUGE SUPERIMPOSITIONS. Color systems. References to Akira Kurosawa’s “Stray Dog.” All this may be well and good to impress those borne of the indie virus but it’s all just so much meaningless frosting since there’s no fluff in this cake.
Even the scruffily-rendered Joseph Gordon-Levitt can’t really keep this one afloat.
Simply put, this genre-bender about a NYC couple (Levitt & Collins) grappling with Heisenberg’s so-called ‘uncertainty principle’, in which a simple coin toss leads the couple to a manipulatively emotional family outing and while the flip side sends them crashing into a ridiculous murder mystery, is all bells and whistles.
It tries very hard to be a thriller. But the poor quality of the choreography leaves you feeling so consistently underwhelmed that you realize the movie has about as much to do with action and suspense as art has to do with boobies and pretty colors.
But perhaps the film’s most troubling symptom is that it has this urgent need to remind us of life’s randomness. It reaffirms the arbitrary nature of the universe like some kind of annoying new age mantra. Yet for all of it’s proclamations it seems to have nothing new.
Thanks 21st-century film school. Life is random, huh? Well that’s good. Now that I know that I’ll never be indecisive about anything again.
Trailer
***
Written & Directed by:
Scott McGehee & David Siegel
Produced by:
Becky Glupczynski.......................line producer
Scott McGehee
David Siegel
Cast:
Lynn Collins.................................Kate
Joseph Gordon-Levitt..................Bobby
Assumpta Serna...........................Sylvia
Nelson Landrieu...........................Felix
Manoel Felciano..........................Greg
Jenn Colella.................................Emily
Giana Luca..................................Annabelle
Sofia Luca...................................Adelaide
No comments:
Post a Comment