This article is part of NUFEC's ongoing coverage of IFFBoston 2015.
Hello again everyone! Here is Part Two of my Independent Film Festival Boston 2015 coverage, and I'm happy to report that this article includes some of the best films I've seen here so far.
H.
H. is a story which takes place over the span of a week or so in the small town of Troy in upstate New York. It is divided into four parts which alternate between two different couples. One is an elderly retired couple named Helen and Roy (Robin Bartlett and Julian Gamble). Helen has a strange obsession with baby dolls, which she calls her “reborn angel” and treats as if it was alive, while Roy is a typical old-timer who just wants time to go drinking and fishing with his buddies. The second couple is a young pair of artists named Helen and Alex (Rebecca Dayan and Will Janowitz) who have their first child on the way. But soon strange things begin to happen in Troy after a meteor seemingly explodes above the town. People begin hearing strange noises, the physical properties of objects begin to change, and some people even begin to go missing.
H. is a hard film to classify, falling somewhere between mystery and drama with a sprinkling of horror. But the thing about this movie is that it’s a tease. All these strange things happen, and even if they are interesting or occasionally frightening in the moment, nothing is ever explained. Now, I’m fine with movies which want to keep their events ambiguous and mysterious, but if they do than those events and the people that interact with them need to be compelling enough to stand on their own. And that’s the thing: the events of H. are not interesting enough to stand on their own.
To be fair, if I had seen this before the terrifying and intense psychological horror They Look Like People the night before, than maybe I would have liked this film more. Compared to that, this movie seemed extremely tame and extremely slow. But even if I hadn’t, H. is a movie which aspires to the mysterious and ambiguous tradition of horror-mystery but sadly, to use the old expression, its reach exceeds its grasp.
Grade: C-
H. is a hard film to classify, falling somewhere between mystery and drama with a sprinkling of horror. But the thing about this movie is that it’s a tease. All these strange things happen, and even if they are interesting or occasionally frightening in the moment, nothing is ever explained. Now, I’m fine with movies which want to keep their events ambiguous and mysterious, but if they do than those events and the people that interact with them need to be compelling enough to stand on their own. And that’s the thing: the events of H. are not interesting enough to stand on their own.
To be fair, if I had seen this before the terrifying and intense psychological horror They Look Like People the night before, than maybe I would have liked this film more. Compared to that, this movie seemed extremely tame and extremely slow. But even if I hadn’t, H. is a movie which aspires to the mysterious and ambiguous tradition of horror-mystery but sadly, to use the old expression, its reach exceeds its grasp.
Grade: C-
Wildlike
Wildlike opens with a young, troubled girl named Mackenzie (Ella Purnell) at the Seattle airport about to get on a plane to Juneau, Alaska. She’s being sent to live with her Uncle Ted (Joshua Leonard) as her mother, still reeling from the death of Mackenzie’s father, is incapable of caring for her. Unfortunately, where her mother was simply incapable Uncle Ted is abusive, and she soon runs away. After aimlessly wandering Juneau, stealing money and food, she hitches a ride on the Alaska Marine Highway in order to get out of the city. Afraid that her uncle is following her, Mackenzie keeps running and eventually ends up traveling over much of the state, initially alone but later with a man she meet through happenstance named Bart (Bruce Greenwood).
Combining a well-written plot with a cast of experienced actors, Wildlike is a touching drama film about two people who start as strangers and slowly come to care for one another. Both Ella Purnell and Bruce Greenwood are excellent in their respective roles, the former as the vulnerable young girl and the latter as the world-weary older man. Because of this and the phenomenal writing by writer/director Frank Hall Green both Mackenzie and Bart feel like real people, and as they get to know each other we as the audience do as well. By the end, the two of them are like old friends to us.
Not to mention the fact that the cinematography is absolutely gorgeous. The movie was filmed on-location in a variety of Alaska locales, most notably the pristine wilderness of Denali National Park. I enjoyed the film even further as I have a personal connection to Alaska and I have been to many of the same places that Mackenzie travels through. Even if you can tell that the cameras the movie was filmed on were not the highest quality ever, the raw natural beauty of the place makes up for it. Wildlike is a beautiful film, on both a visual and emotional level, and I await its full theatrical release so I can go and see it again.
Grade: A
Combining a well-written plot with a cast of experienced actors, Wildlike is a touching drama film about two people who start as strangers and slowly come to care for one another. Both Ella Purnell and Bruce Greenwood are excellent in their respective roles, the former as the vulnerable young girl and the latter as the world-weary older man. Because of this and the phenomenal writing by writer/director Frank Hall Green both Mackenzie and Bart feel like real people, and as they get to know each other we as the audience do as well. By the end, the two of them are like old friends to us.
Not to mention the fact that the cinematography is absolutely gorgeous. The movie was filmed on-location in a variety of Alaska locales, most notably the pristine wilderness of Denali National Park. I enjoyed the film even further as I have a personal connection to Alaska and I have been to many of the same places that Mackenzie travels through. Even if you can tell that the cameras the movie was filmed on were not the highest quality ever, the raw natural beauty of the place makes up for it. Wildlike is a beautiful film, on both a visual and emotional level, and I await its full theatrical release so I can go and see it again.
Grade: A
DEATHGASM
DEATHGASM is the story of a teenager from New Zealand named Brodie (Milo Cawthorne). Brodie is a Metalhead. For those of you are unaware, a Metalhead is a die-hard fan of Heavy Metal music. After his mother is institutionalized, he is sent to live with his ultra-conservative uncle and aunt, who treat him poorly because they regard his favorite genre as “the devil’s music”. Brodie’s cousin David is a mean-spirited bully who uses his parent’s dislike of Brodie to justify beating him up. Ostracized at home and at school (since David is a popular jock), Brodie’s only friends in his new town are Dungeons and Dragons geeks Dion and Giles (Sam Berkley and Daniel Cresswell) and fellow Metalhead Zakk (James Blake). Feeling isolated, the group decides to vent their feelings by forming a Metal band called DEATHGASM (because as Zakk says, LOWERCASE IS FOR PUSSIES!!). This catches the attention of Brodie’s crush, a beautiful girl named Medina (Kimberley Crossman). But Brodie quickly finds that he has bigger things to worry about, as DEATHGASM’s newest song turns out to be an ancient satanic invocation. With the town overrun by demons, Brodie must use the power of Heavy Metal to save the day.
DEATHGASM is ridiculous, hilarious, extremely gory, and downright awesome. It’s a horror movie and splatter comedy based entirely around Heavy Metal music which does not take itself seriously in the slightest and runs entirely on sheer mayhem and absurd comedy. Featuring everything from literally satanic Metal music, a Dan Brown-style secret society intent on hunting down and murdering DEATHGASM, and Brodie and Zakk trying to kill demons with giant dildos, this is a movie which positively revels in its own insanity. The over-the-top gore and high level of genre self-awareness makes for a rollercoaster ride of violence, comedy, and awesome battles with evil demons. And of course, the movie has an awesome soundtrack with tons of brutal Metal music; the creators of the movie obviously have such a love for the music and it comes across beautifully in the movie.
And what makes all of this even better is that the movie is actually exceedingly well-made. The acting is very professional, with the actors giving it their all in even the most absurd scenes and clearly having a whole mess of fun while doing it. The writing is extremely clever, managing to be both play straight and make fun of the typical splatter movie tropes simultaneously. There’s even a little B-plot about Brodie and Medina’s blossoming romance which manages to both really cute and super Metal at the same time. And the special effects, while often intentionally cheesy, look really good, especially when Brodie and company kill demons in extremely bloody and… creative ways. Put everything together and you have a ludicrously fun horror-comedy which is simultaneously a love-letter to everything METAL. Trust me, after you watch this movie you’re going to want to go home and blast Metal music into your ears at the highest possible volume (which is exactly what I’m doing as I write this review). All in all, DEATHGASM is one of the funniest and most fun movies I’ve seen in quite a long time.
Grade: A+
DEATHGASM is ridiculous, hilarious, extremely gory, and downright awesome. It’s a horror movie and splatter comedy based entirely around Heavy Metal music which does not take itself seriously in the slightest and runs entirely on sheer mayhem and absurd comedy. Featuring everything from literally satanic Metal music, a Dan Brown-style secret society intent on hunting down and murdering DEATHGASM, and Brodie and Zakk trying to kill demons with giant dildos, this is a movie which positively revels in its own insanity. The over-the-top gore and high level of genre self-awareness makes for a rollercoaster ride of violence, comedy, and awesome battles with evil demons. And of course, the movie has an awesome soundtrack with tons of brutal Metal music; the creators of the movie obviously have such a love for the music and it comes across beautifully in the movie.
And what makes all of this even better is that the movie is actually exceedingly well-made. The acting is very professional, with the actors giving it their all in even the most absurd scenes and clearly having a whole mess of fun while doing it. The writing is extremely clever, managing to be both play straight and make fun of the typical splatter movie tropes simultaneously. There’s even a little B-plot about Brodie and Medina’s blossoming romance which manages to both really cute and super Metal at the same time. And the special effects, while often intentionally cheesy, look really good, especially when Brodie and company kill demons in extremely bloody and… creative ways. Put everything together and you have a ludicrously fun horror-comedy which is simultaneously a love-letter to everything METAL. Trust me, after you watch this movie you’re going to want to go home and blast Metal music into your ears at the highest possible volume (which is exactly what I’m doing as I write this review). All in all, DEATHGASM is one of the funniest and most fun movies I’ve seen in quite a long time.
Grade: A+
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