Scalene

The plot of this film is extremely ambitious and sometimes the director isn't up to par. I have a feeling he was going for noir, something hitchcockian, but it didn't quite work out that way.

I have to wonder, too, how this would look with a better budget. I enjoy the story, but it is also rather over the top and clearly pulling for your heart strings. Maybe a bit more kitchen sink realism would have helped.

I really like the ideas, but... like I said, it tries a little too hard in some areas. A bit overwrought. But good.

Regardless, a really riveting film. There was never a boring moment. Well, except for the scenes that were too drawn out. Other than that though, it was good.

I was invited to a screening of this movie by a friend, and when I heard I was going to be seeing a low budget, independent film I did everything short of feign illness to get out of having to attend. On the way to the theater my mind filled with images of ridiculous drive-in fare and late, late, late night monster movies of the sort where you can see the zipper on the creature where the "actor" climbs inside, along with a multitude of other cringe-worthy scenes that come to mind when someone says "low-budget". Bottom line, I expected everything to be horrible. What I got instead with Scalene was a taut, heart-wrenching character study with such a degree of emotional impact that I was left still shaken the following day.

The story is told from three people's perspectives, and as can be expected each of their individual stories fills in gaps left vacant by the others'. This isn't the first time I've seen multiple perspectives in a movie, but as far as I can recall it's the first time I've seen three separate perspectives told in such singularly distinct ways. The lead actress, Margo Martindale, is simply marvelous. Her name might not be familiar to you, but you'll recognize her from everything from Dexter to Million Dollar Baby. The movie also stars Hanna Hall, the girl who played young Jenny from Forrest Gump, and my goodness has she ever grown up. The actor, Adam Scarimbolo, who plays the mentally handicapped son as described in the IMDb synopsis, (I'm not giving anything further away), I recognized from the movie A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. His character in Scalene is unable to speak, yet even with no dialogue his performance is breath-taking.

Back to the issue of this being a low-budget movie. There was nothing cheap or unprofessional about anything in this movie, contrary to what I had expected. I noticed on the IMDb page that Scalene was made with $150,000. I don't know anything about the business of making movies, but I had previously thought that movies cost tens of millions to make. Most seem to. Knowing now that quality has very little to do with the budget I wonder, unless there are lots of expensive special effects, where does the money go for big-budget movies except into people's pockets? I could not recommend this movie more, not only because it shattered every stereotype I had previously held about low-budget, independent films, but because it is a first rate movie with a truly captivating story.

There are essentially three characters in "Scalene". And with respect to the writers for their rather ingenious title, we can pretend there are three points of view. The first half of the film is spent with the mother, but mostly told backwards in time. She's seeking justice and revenge for the incarceration of her mentally-handicapped son charged with rape. Then we hear from the son and then the abused girl herself.

The mother, played by Margo Martindale, is stressed out to her wits ends and is trying to find someone who can understand what she's going through trying to raise her brain-damaged son who can't speak all on her own. The interesting part about her sequences was telling it in reverse. We first see her after the conviction, then immediately following the incident itself and then a number of scenes leading up to the incident. At this point, we have no idea what happened but it proved to be interesting enough that our curiosity was piqued and tension was high waiting for the big reveal.

Then we hear from the son, Jakob (Adam Scarimbolo), but of course he can't speak. And based on the handful of random, bizarrely shot, meaningless scenes, we can assume he doesn't understand much of the world around him.

Then comes the interesting part of the film – the victim's sequences. Paige Alexander (Hannah Hall) is, at times, an average college student. She's looking for a part time job, one that should advance her in her chosen career of social care. Young and inexperienced, Jakob's mother hires her to take care of Jakob a couple of hours a week because she seems honest and caring. The similarly inexperienced actress Hannah Hall (who got her start as the "young Jenny" in "Forrest Gump") will hopefully go far based on her powerful but extremely tender performance of a girl who was always just trying to figure out the right thing to do. And she more than held her own against the heavy-hitting Martindale.

Paige was an interesting character because she's figuring out just as we are figuring out what is going on. She has a cold respect for her parents but can't turn to them for help since they have lost touch with reality. Her friends haven't experienced what she has experienced and would be unable to offer advice. Paige is strong and independent, but she's forced into a situation where she's scared and alone.

Unfortunately, the problems for "Scalene" come when some of the actions venture far from credible or realistic and sympathy for the characters is all of a sudden hard to come by. But worse is the editing, and/or acting, in the revenge scenes. Characters are hit over the head and fall down the stairs in such a cheesy and artificial manner that it resembles a super low-budget, unintentionally funny, ridiculously stupid horror movie. It is better than that, but only when we've connected to the characters and we're following Paige waiting for the ultimate twist. Before and after that, the film loses most of its edge.

A perceptual thriller told from three points-of-view revolving around the rape of a female college student by a mentally handicapped man and his mother's subsequent revenge after his incarceration.

I have to give this film some credit. I started off not liking it, thinking the acting was poor and the characters unlikeable. The film quality was also somewhat suspect (though this might just be because I was watching a screener and not a "real" release).

As it progressed, I still found the mother's acting to be a bit weak, but the other characters more than made up for her shortcomings. And then the film goes for an emotional punch, and another one, and one more... the characters remain unlikeable, but this turns out to be the beauty of the film. We find it hard to sympathize with the mother, despite her years of hardship. We find it hard to sympathize with the caretaker as her exploitation motives come more and more to the forefront. The only one who seems to come out unscathed is the disabled boy...

Films without heroes are hard to judge. I think people generally walk away feeling dirty or empty inside and therefore want to give the film a bad rating or review. In fact, if they do this, I feel they missed the point. Any film that is able to affect you, make you feel empty or dirty, is powerful. Films make us feel happy or sad all the time, but few really present humanity in all its blemished notoriety.

I want to congratulate Zack Parker on this film. While it is by no means a perfect film, it is a powerful film and an emotional uppercut.

When I first saw Scalene, I left the viewing with a big WOW!. Great independent film and kudos to the director, producer, writer and actors for a simple yet well arranged movie. The reverse story technique was a nice touch. Personally, I'm tired of those so-called mega-bucks movies made up of plenty of effects and little story to them. I found sympathy for the all the characters, particularly Paige, who went to lengths to do the things she had to do. The only thing I have some issues about is the ending, it could have totally been done full circle. I recommend Scalene for those who wish to leave the beaten path of Hollywood movies to enjoy a great piece of film-making.