Beast Beast

This film is dynamic, it's paced like teenage life and each of the three storylines feels unique. Some blemishes, but I can accept that as low-budget charm and would rather see that than some predictable, sterile storytelling. For a first time filmmaker this shows real promise. I LOVE Shirley Chen in the main role. Also Jose Angeles and Will Madden give grounded, emotional performances, and the sound design is something special (watch it with good headphones/nice speakers). This film hit me really hard; I can't explain it beyond that. Big thumbs up!

A teen story with two subplots; a skater w/exceptional parkour skills is used by his friends to do some petty theft crimes. He also has a love interest in a drama student. This fills, often boringly, most of the movie. In the other main character we have a socially isolated, social-media, internet-posting, gun loving teen w/some family issues. His weapons & hunting prowess leads us to the climax.

Not a good flow to our storyline & ended up ff through a lot of it.

I am "old school" where content was about what was actually in it, not the quality of the message surrounding it. The buzz here is that Shirley Chen's natural exuberance highlights an authentic film about authentic teenagers, yada, yada. No, not really. Chen is hi-energy, but the director has her spending most of her time scrunching up her face. Not exactly Oscar material. The real giveaway however is the sound track which, for most of the film, plays ominous "clanging" noises in the background, the kind of noise you might expect in a horror film, not a teen drama. That's the key. All in all, just a big setup for a woke film on gun control, everything else is just window dressing.

It's a regular American high school. Krista is fun-loving theater student. Adam loves guns and wants to do a YouTube channel. Nito is a nice skateboarder who is befriended by some petty delinquents.

The young cast grows on me. I really like Krista and Nito as characters. There is a simple reality and sweet charm to their relationship. Adam reminds me of Gus Van Sant's Elephant (2003) and that is a mixed blessing. In a way, his life is a matter of the audience's opinion. Ultimately, this movie may have a message but it's not for everyone. The last section with Krista is a little contrived. All in all, I do love Krista and Nito. I understand the idea of Adam. I love the reality of this world and it's never not compelling.

This movie depicts an unpredictably developing story of lives of three young people which are looking for their place in the society. Avoiding any spoilers, I would say that plot is definitely not boring, but sometimes contains unnecessary details. The music is nice, but could be better; loud sounds during the movie make watcher either to use headphones in order to not to disturb everyone around either increase and decrease volume few times during the movie. Screenplay is well-done, but not exceptionally perfect.

As a result, overall impression is positive and I consider this picture as a reasonable candidate for watching at least once.