A Midsummer Night's Rave

I had the pleasure of seeing this film at a screening last week in Los Angeles with one of my friends who worked in the sound department. I attend many of these industry screenings and most often I'm disappointed and go with hopes of scoring a few free drinks. This film was an excellent surprise. I really enjoyed it. The modern translation of the story was clever. The production value was great. Most of all the cast was superb.

I can't tell if it was a great script or great director that motivated these performances but they're nothing short of excellent. This is the type of film casting directors salivate for because it's not loaded with expensive "stars" but instead with the names and faces we'll be seeing on the cover of magazines in the years to come. Once again, great cast!

Now to people whom are die hard Shakespeare fans then you will most likely not enjoy this film. On the other hand you might because it gives him to a whole new generation that is plagued with TV, radio, internet and have never seen a play; much less read one.

I loved this movie because it takes the bare of the plot of the play and takes it to a new generation, plus I am a raver... so it combines two of my life's loves and mixes them.

This movie does not show the true nature of a rave in some ways because it does not show all the kandi kids. I wanted to see the kids that are all happy go lucky and want everyone to be the same way.

Granted as a film the movie has some lacking points acting being a major issue, but all in all this movie is a good watch.... Hope you enjoy.

I've never read or seen A Midsummer Night's Dream, so the comparison is lost on me, but if you've been to a rave (and under the influence while there) this movie rocks. The acting (during the rave) is pretty amazing, and until I saw the "behind the scenes" from the DVD, I wondered if some of them were really on something (drugs). It was very good acting except that the characters seemed to be able to become completely lucid when they felt like it (and who would want to at a rave?). Some of the scenes were so realistic, I give this movie high ratings. The plot was actually more of an interruption, and I would have preferred watching people dance for two hours of uninterrupted hardcore 90s techno.

There were three aspects of this that made it real, the dialog (at times during the rave), the music, and the lighting (alright, the camera work at times made it real too: the jump cuts of the guy looking for his jacket as he walked through the crowd, and the girl, Amanda, who came out of nowhere and started kissing Xander--their dialog was perfect: "what are you doing?" "what do you mean?", and their mannerisms as they went back and forth is something you will have seen or experienced if you've been to a few raves). The music was awesome, I spent hours looking for the soundtrack and still can't find it (I'm guessing there isn't one... I read an interview with one of the DJs in the movie (DJ Irene) who said the hardest part was straightening out licensing issues, so maybe that's related to there being no soundtrack available). I watched the credits and searched for the 50 or so songs that were listed, and haven't found much. What a bummer.

The lighting is also great, and really captures the mood. There are parts where everything has a blue, washed-out look, which is cool, but the music is barely audible, and that kind of prevents a viewer from being able to maintain the feel of the rave when the movie goes to the blue areas. However, the lighting looks good and when Xander finds Elena in the blue area, their conversation and acting is dead-on, right down to the "did I just say that?". The lighting when Damon is feeling it kicking-in and watching Elena is perfect. The glistening bodies bouncing up and down while the music jams is great, and the different colored lights falling across them, almost changing the way they look, will be like a flashback for those who've been there and done that. The only part that was better (in my opinion) was when Xander was feeling it while dancing with Elena. When he says, "I'm loving this" and it blends in with the music, it's absolutely perfect. The worst part was that it stopped. The music changed and suddenly I was wishing for two hours of a continuation of that scene.

Other highlights were the guy (Nick) who took too much, especially at the end where he asks the girl (Brit), "Are you real? Why, why, why would you be talking to an ass?" His mannerisms were truly authentic except that when she started talking about her next gig he seemed able to shake it off and become straight and coherent again. Not very realistic for someone who is still hallucinating and thinking he's a donkey. It was also interesting when Nick was walking through the crowds and started jumping to the music. Definitely something people who have been there will recognize: the inability to not be affected by the jams, even if you're just walking from point A to point Anywhere. Dialog could have all been more like Elena when she said she wanted to kiss Xander, she just kind of breathed the words out. That was convincing.

If you've been there and want to remember, this movie has bits and pieces that will bring it back. If you haven't been there, you may or may not enjoy it.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S RAVE, by the estimable Gil Cates, Jr., is an interesting, original, provocative take on Shakespeare's timeless A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM-all the more so because Cates (who is a director to watch for in the future) has the effrontery to keep but the barest skeleton of the original plot--i.e.,two sets of mismatched couples-Oberon and Titania-Bottom and the "players"----all the while deciding to take it in more daring, unexpected directions than the Immortal Bard ever intended. While previous versions---(Brook's, Branagh's, etc.) stressed the pastoral, dark aspects of the play--along with keeping the fates of the characters exactly as Shakespeare wrote it--Cates decides to add homosexuality and a scary-yet-funny drug dealer to the mix! Plus, Elena--("Helena" in the play)--ends up doing something totally different than the play! (No equivalents of Theseus and Hyppolita, for that matter).

Truly, this movie is not for purists. Yet the cinematography is great, the decor and setting are funky-love the van Nick and his friends drive!-the music fits the spirit and setting (a rave) the actors are good-looking and fresh--I especially enjoyed Chad Lindberg as the "Bottom" character-(goofy Nick, who goes comically, spectacularly off-the-wall after ingesting some of Puck's "love potion") and Nichole Hiltz as the "Titania" character, Britt---their "fate" is charmingly quite different than the play and is particularly satisfying to those of us who think they make a great romantic "couple." I also enjoyed Jason Carter as the devious, poetry-spouting O.B. John, and Lauren German as the quirky, pixie-like Elena.

Andrew Keegan and Sunny Mawbrey are also interesting as well, and make a great couple, the rough equivalent of "Lysander and Hermia" in the play. The "Puck" character (a witty Glen Badyna), though, to be honest, is barely there and is not really involved that much in the action like he was in the play. Some of the other actors in the movie are little more than filler, as well.

Not everybody will quite take to the casual drug use---but if one is willing to stick with the movie one will realize that the drug subplot helps make one of the points of the movie---these young people have been trying to drown their concerns and desires in drugs and hedonistic partying--instead of confronting these concerns and desires head on and be themselves. They realize that one does not need to use drugs to feel happiness and love. Ultimately honesty and love are the greatest drugs of all. The dialogue between Andrew Keegan (Xander) and Sunny Mawbrey (Mia) perfectly illustrates this.

Not a lot of plot---and ultimately, not for all tastes---but if one is in "vibe" with the spirit of the movie--and is interested in the phenomenon of raves---this is a must see!

If you've seen Human Traffic and GO then this a little of both. It has the Americanism aspect you get in GO and almost the rave feeling and music from Human Traffic. I watched, sometimes I wanted to fast-forward, but something that makes a movie watchable is that I identified with a couple of the characters, even if it was only for something they said or a thought/feeling they were going through.

The problem with this movie was it needed to grow up, it needed to be more written around someones experience rather than experiences being shaped in to Shakespeare's play. Playing with the greats is not easy. Most if not all films based around Shakespeare have failed. If you take the idea and then use that to help you make a movie, using personal experience, maybe something like Point Break (which sort of takes off Romeo and Juliet) that is far more successful.

But then again what do I know I'm only the paying public!

Probably would have gone to the Cinema but tried to blag a student discount. Would not pay full price.