Buzzard

There is nothing about this movie I would change given the chance, and that's why I give it 10/10. I'm not sure when this movie is supposed to take place & love that it didn't matter. Marty is the gutsiest slacker on earth, taking advantage of the system everywhere he goes. The camera spends a lot of time in view of his face, which makes it all that much more apparent how withdrawn and composed he is in his scams, and effective when we notice him displaying fear & rage & doubt as things begin to close in on him. One of my favorite parts of this movie was Marty's selfish, awkward & mismatched relationship with his coworker and friend(?). Napoleon Dynamite-ish humor there. A scene where they snack of Bugles brought me to tears. Yay for junk food & horror culture. Yay for this movie. Release it to DVD already so I can show all my friends.

Buzzard is a good little movie, and by little I mean it looks like it was shot on an iPhone for a budget of 500$. That's not at all a bad thing. Movies like this lean on good writing, memorable acting and characters in lieu of high end production value, and grab-as-you-go energy in place of finesse.

Marty Jackitansky is a hell of a memorable character; gangly, dour, my wife went so far as to call him 'grotesque' which I think is pretty accurate. I've never seen a character like him before, and I hope I never do again. Joshua Burge gives a disquieting, subtly hilarious performance that pulls the whole tone of the film into his gravity, warping the other comic elements into something darker.

"No one will be seated during the thrilling, five-minute long spaghetti eating sequence."

The tone of this movie changes from funny, goofy characters in silly situations, to a really uncomfortable third act where our lead character descends into paranoia and violence. It is really hard to continue watching this movie once the setting changes to Detroit. The tone change does not work for me.

That said, the first two acts are great. They have clever scams and funny scenes. The acting is wonderful throughout.

Paranoia forces small-time scam artist Marty (Joshua Burge) to flee his hometown and hide out in a dangerous Detroit. With nothing but a pocket full of bogus checks, his Nightmare Power Glove, and a bad temper, the horror metal slacker lashes out.

The film starts off strong, great impression of the main character without even showing his face. We then transition to a clever, devious and hilarious bank scene. Which gets better as it goes... heck, the film could stop after the first five minutes and it would be a winner.

There is no doubt the creator of this film loves horror. There are references to horror classics like "Nightmare on Elm Street", "Return of the Living Dead", "Wicker Man", "Demons" and "Suspiria". Heck, there is even a full-sized poster for "Leviathan", which is a rare find.

In summary, the film is one great scene after another. Treadmill Bugles? Brilliant. The spaghetti incident? Brilliant. Scamming a McDonalds? Brilliant.

Some critic smarter than me says the film is "notable for reigniting the angry young man niche, both in aesthetic and voice." Now, whether or not that is true is beyond me. Seems it is hard to reignite anything by itself... would it not have to create a trend? But it does have a man fighting against his own futility -- a futility he largely creates. And there is a message in there somewhere.

"I may live badly, but at least I don't have to *work* to do it." Hitchhiker from Richard Linklater's Slacker.

The slacker, Marty (Joshua Burg), in his titular reference, Buzzard, is more socially disaffected than Napoleon Dynamite and scarier in a covert sense than Freddie Krueger. In all, this comedy drama is a witty allegory about teen anomie and an indictment of a society that constructs barriers through bureaucratic indifference.

Marty is a small time scam artist, mostly stealing checks from his temp work at a bank to trading in discarded McDonald's sandwiches from the garbage for fresh ones. All the while this metal meat head has a poster of Freddie and a glove with knives for digits. You guessed it: If director Joel Potrykus places the glove in a shot early on, chances are we'll see it later on in a far less sedentary shot.

Yet meanwhile, Marty is pulling little cons with motel room access and check kiting and generally avoiding the law. He is alternately lovable in his counterculture way and menacing when faced with authority he doesn't respect. Through most of the film, Marty is an amusing though disreputable slacker, a temp worker ripping off the bank he works for and a buddy only temporarily engaged while he thinks of his next low-level crime.

"Buzzard" should get the year's prize for the most accurate title in film. Marty feeds off the carrion of society while he literally does so in his McDonald's larcenies. Until the climax, he evades the authorities, who must by now be up to his game. Without focusing on his criminal activities, an inference could be drawn that society needs to be vigilant and proactive to help these Napoleons have meaningful lives. Otherwise, Freddie has spawned a most lethal buzzard.