The Blur of Insanity

This movies was a piece of trash even among other films of this genre. Positive review must have originated from an asylum!

The plot is sophomoric at best and the acting is barely passable. But the key factor which I found most annoying is the cinematography which is crude and seems like it was filmed by a teenager running about with a super eight camera.

I like a playful romp, but the content of this movie, if I can bring myself to call it that, was repulsive, unfunny and more juvenile than provocative.

I had the misfortune to watch an advanced copy with a friend of the writer and to be fair I watched it again after it was released to see if changes had improved it. They had not.

Were I listed in any way shape or form on the production list of this film, I would demand that my name be removed out of pure shame.

"The Blur of Insanity" may seem, to the casual browser, to be just another film about college hijinks. But I was surprised to find there is a lot more to this film. "Blur" is a TRUE black comedy, a very rare genre, the best example of which is Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove". If you appreciated the unique humor and tone of "Strangelove", you should check out "Blur".

In both films you find yourself laughing at things which in real life are terrible problems that most of us are in denial about.

I first heard about "Blur" through its website, which contains a similar dark humor and also indulges in extremely un-politically-correct misbehaviors. I thought the website was generally a hoot, ordered the DVD just because I was curious, and frankly did not expect much...

I found the quality of the DVD quite impressive though, even compared with Hollywood's output. It is way better than your typical indie DVD. The interface features nice 3D animation, a good "day on the set" video, and mysterious links which maintain the feel of the film.

The film itself is shot in widescreen and seems very slick for a low-budget effort. The story concerns five college "derelicts" whose response to getting into trouble is to drink, trip, cheat, and whore.

But what is interesting is the weird sense of innocence that pervades these doings. They do evil, but are not evil. They remind me of people I knew in college.

"Blur" sends up the hyper-liberal politics found on campus these days, and it also sends up what college students have largely become: drug-dazed clueless irresponsible children, drunk with the newfound power of vehicles, guns, sex, and evasion of authority. But this is the thing: "Blur" is on their side. There is no judgement of their "insanity", only a kind of misty nostalgic approval. For instance, when was the last time you saw a film which dared to show pot-smoking as harmless, even joyful fun?

It's amazing to me that this film even exists...

"Blur" manages to simultaneously indulge in this misbehavior, and make fun of it, and make fun of itself.

"Blur" is even so subversive, it subverts the norms of its genre. It halfway sets up "Animal House" style story expectations, and then drops them like a hot potato, to persue instead a narrative style which seems as aimless and wild as its protagonists. By the middle of the film, during the excellent (and most accurate) "tripping" sequence, you realize that whatever story threads were hanging together have been dissolved. I found this to be hilarious, appropriate, and even a little avant-garde; I suppose there are others who misunderstand this as bad storytelling. Some people...

By the way, I thought the above mentioned "tripping" sequence is THE highlight of the film. I was amused...

As you watch the film, you may not laugh out loud, but you feel as if you might at any moment. The film is very low key, with weird, soothing classical music playing in odd places to add to the irony...

You come away from "Blur" feeling like you have seen a gentle, subtle, and affectionate comic exaggeration of of some harsh realities about the life of young people today that most films are, sadly, way too afraid to approach.

"The Blur of Insanity" is definitely not for everyone. It is not faux "provacative", it is TRULY provacative, and may offend many PC sensitives. (Note: it refreshingly avoids the tiresome trend of potty-humor that is so in vogue these days.) But if you have a knee-jerk negative reaction to this film, there are plenty of mediocre films out there which won't challenge you a bit, and I suggest you stick with those. "Blur" is a film for the hidden legions who misspent their youth and don't regret it, are actually proud of it, and for those who are sophisticated enough to appreciate something unusual.

I used to have three favourite movies. "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", "Dead Man" and "Baraka". Now I have four. I purchased "The Blur of Insanity" based on the fact that their website provided me with infallible tips on life and how to live it during my college/uni years and because I didn't believe that they had actually managed to finish it. The resulting masterpiece of cinematic brilliance was worth twice the wait and a price tag in the thousands. The humour, the drugs, the other humour, the guns, the magic eightball, the 4wd's and ability to drive them, the nakedness and the sheer twisted genius that pushes these guys to excel at everything they do make this the best and most unreservedly realistic college documentary ever made. They came, they saw, they shot it, chopped up the carcass and smoked it. Damn, thats how to make a movie. Hollywood take note - you've only been keeping the seat warm for these guys.

I finally got my DVD of The Blur of Insanity! Wahoo!

All I can say is - cool! I really didn't expect it to be as great as it was, but, well, it was! Incredibly funny and bizarre, and the tripping scenes just... rocked - it caught that feeling of exactly how you feel when you do acid - not that I've ever done that! ;) ha ha.

Also some of my friends had seen it when it was in theaters and they all said it

definitely worth seeing, and that half their friends at campus were imitating lines from it. Anyway, from all that feedback I really was looking forward to it. Finally (after a year of waiting) I got to order it and when it got here, all I can say was that I was totally impressed!

First, this movie captures the feel of college so well it was scary, I thought they had filmed people I know. It was also not overly preachy (like too many films) and not boring like most independent art film... it was just a great time. From what the site says this is based on a true story, and I didn't really believe it, but on the DVD they have old video footage of the director (?) and his friends at school and well, I guess it is true. Again, not something you see on most DVD's!

The dialogue and acting were great, even that guy joshua Leonard from Blair Witch is in it, and he is really much better in this movie than in Blair Witch (which I liked). So many lines were good that I can't remember them all. Also all sorts of weird sidetracking into stuff you do at college that brings back memories, or flashbacks.

Another thing, the DVD comes with all of these cool special features like that crazy documentary and all of this other stuff. I spent most of the afternoon looking at all of it. And I almost forgot, the director and producer and two of the actors did a commentary track and it was obvious that they were drinking while doing it, as they kept slurring their words and just talking about all sorts of strange stuff. Anyway, I don't want to give things away.

I highly recommend it! Definitely one of the best DVD's I've ever bought!

I picked it up in a video store while skiing in VT. Did not know what we were getting into. The cover got my attention. It looked like a sick movie and I was right. The DVD had a really cool interface. Really liked the Helen Keller version. Someone had fun putting it together. The plot was usual college film, but I thought the characters seemed more realistic. Not dopy like almost all the usual Hollywood fair. And I liked Josh lenard in it. Thought he had some funny line. Best scene was the 4X4 ripping up the lawn in the background while they are talking on a couch. Not sure if this film is for everybody. Too politically incorrect for alot of people. I recommend it "highly" for a bunch of guys hanging out and drinking etc.