My Name Is 'A' by Anonymous

From its clumsy,pretentious title to its attempts to combine John cassavetes cinema verite shooting style with a Jim van bebber esque trash aesthetic, Shane Ryan reid 's 2012 low budget movie based on real events is definitely an exercise in trying way to hard. Dialogue is delivered with zero conviction by the young and inexperienced cast and the murder aside, the movie has no real direction, Thanks to a seemingly non existent screenplay. Resembling more a promising film student effort than a fully fledged professional production thanks to its numerous technical and creative setbacks, those interested in the bustamante case would be best served by the countless news stories available on the web about the case. A few well captured arty shots and the tasteful placement of Moody music will never be a substitute for quality all round movie making.

When you hear that this film is about the real-life murder committed by Alyssa Bustamante, you'd probably think that the film would center around that event. And you'd be wrong. Instead this movie tries to explore "who is Alyssa Bustamante?" and I'm not sure how much if any of it is accurate.

The weird thing is that the movie has a lot of awkward sequences that seem to be there to pad out the length, and don't seem to in any way service the story. At one point there's a really awkward shower scene, and at the halfway point in the movie we have to watch a music video in what I assume to be Russian?

The real story of Alyssa Bustamante is disturbing on its own, and it would have been better to tell the story of the actual events. The lying, the manipulation. Pretending to help look for her victim, all the while keeping entries in her diary about the thrill she got from it. That would have been good subject matter for a documentary of a murder. Instead we follow a girl with a terminal obsession with Russia.

Honestly, I would recommend to avoid this.

It's hard to describe this film. Which in this case is a good thing.

It's real, raw, and brutal (and vulgar) in many scenes, more like a silent film or music video in other scenes, and beautiful like a full blown fantasy in others.

Only loosely based on the Alyssa Bustamante murder of Elizabeth Olten, this shouldn't be considered a true story, only an inspiration for a film which digs far deeper into the state of mind than any sensational news headline could imagine doing.

In all I found the premise was reprehensible and the execution of it was really amateurish and wouldn't recommend it to be frank - if you want to learn of Olten's untimely fate then watch a documentary, this my friends is not the way to learn.

If you've seen director Shane Ryan's earlier work then you'll know what you're in for, and also see how he expands his origins of handling found footage films. If you haven't seen his earlier stuff and are expecting some mainstream crime thriller or a Lifetime show, then you'll either be greatly disappointed with its hard-hitting realism, or pleasantly surprised (while also being left enormously depressed).

Keep in mind, Ryan's work will never have a laughing moment, or a time when it seems like things "might be okay." They start off seriously ill, and the sickness only worsens until it eats away your entire body, mind, and soul. His films are not for the faint-of-heart, but also not for those seeking sex, gore or cheap thrills. There's something very deep and meaningful underlying all of this. He never glamorizes murder, but seems oddly fascinated by its evil. So fascinated, in fact, that everything always feels so very real. In a sense where you feel part of this may have had to be lived or experienced by the filmmaker. It's so close to real life (without ever feeling like some "Reality" Show) in a way neither Hollywood or even Independent cinema ever seem to capture.