Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway

CIA Agents D. T. Gagano (Daniel Tadesse) and Palmer Eldritch (Agustin Mateo) are given the assignment of entering the agency's operating system to find and destroy a computer virus that is taking over. The task isn't as straightforward as it would seem, because in addition to the Soviet-Leader-Masked virus there's a Substance, which induces all sorts of hallucinations in its users. Bring in the leader of Beta-Ethiopia, Batfro (Solomon Tashe), and a man who might be Jesus and might be Roy (Guillermo Llanso), and things get complicated really, really fast....

There isn't really a way to describe this film, which could be equally considered science fiction, romance, comedy, thriller, Afro-Futurism and super-psychedelic trip, depending on one's perspective at the moment. Clocking in at a fast 83 minutes, it's exactly the kind of film to see with Montreal's Fantasia Festival audience, people who love genre and love gonzo and most of all, love movies. Director Miguel Llanso's earlier film, "Crumbs," also played at Fantasia, though I must say that I didn't really understand it; despite my description above, "Jesus Shows You...." is much more coherent - and hilarious. And a great stomping shaggy dog's tale to boot!

Despite what some people may say about this film, this film itself is quite unique, and quite entertaining at that! With its exotic writing, acting, and overall film methods, it definitely in my opinion is worth a watch.

Farce, adventure, intrigue... all for a modest sum.

Zero Hollywood here. But it's hard to interpret the intention... comedy, social statements, too?

It's a crazy story that gets clarified at the end... if you last that long. I did. Never lost my interest about what they may show or do next... LOL!

I appreciated the originality, and the cartoonish suspense, even with the amateurish acting and visual effects. I'd be very interested in what these people do next.

Looking at the other reviews I can see how confusing this film is, as it was meant to be. Viewers have trouble getting the heroes and villains straight and one review cleared up some confusion for me. At one point in the middle my husband turned to me and said, "I wonder what they are going to recommend because we watched this?" It is a challenge to think of other films like it because it throws in so many genres. It isn't that funny, either, because that would make it a parody, which is a genre. While watching it I thought it was incoherent but now I think the filmmakers were very focused and intentional. Some films are stories, some evoke emotion, some are intended to invoke a state of consciousness in their audience. This idea is lifted from the conclusion of Aristophanes' The Frogs. This movie invokes a state of some sort. Whatever that state is, it seems to be shared by the community that made this film.

I was going to begin this title with "Surreal", but if you're going to talk about a film that's clearly inspired by Phillip K. Dick's fiction that's kind of redundant. The basic plot bears quite a few points of similarity to one of the author's lesser-known novels, "Ubik"; there's even a major character named "Palmer Eldritch" -- as in Dick's novel "The Three Stigmata of". Which also featured an alien hallucinogen.

So the film isn't shy about acknowledging its antecedents. Along with lots of other influences from all over the place. Whether you'll like it or not probably depends on whether you enjoy that type of story. But seriously: "Worst movie ever"? No way. I really wish reviewers would stop using this as shorthand for "This was confusing/I didn't understand it."

Which is a perfectly valid opinion. I can't claim to have completely understood it, either, after one viewing. But I enjoyed it enough to think this is worth a couple more looks. Yeah, it's got its rough edges, but it also has real heart and creativity.