Bare

Bare, A film about a young Woman, Sarah (Dianna Argon), who's having serious hardships in her life From Beginning to the end. Until she meets Pepper, (Paz De La Huerta), who drags Sarah into her world of lowlifes, Stripping, Drugs and Hustling. This Movie directed by Nathalia Leite surely disappoints. Because I wanted to know the fates of the two characters, who emotionally and romantically gets attached quickly. Unfortunately, It leaves no resolution for them.

My Rating: 6.0

Greetings again from the darkness. The debut feature of writer/director Natalia Leite takes on the all-too-familiar territory of a disenchanted teenager being smothered by a claustrophobic small town, and twists it into a nocturnal awakening that changes some lives, while leaving others forever jogging in place.

Sarah (Dianna Agron, "Glee") is a bored, young local in a small Nevada town. She gets fired from her job as a supermarket checker and spends her time hanging out with her boyfriend (Chris Zylka) and their group of equally unambitious friends. One day she stumbles upon Pepper (Paz de la Huerta, "Boardwalk Empire") who is sleeping in an abandoned store owned by Sarah's father. Intrigued by the drifter, Sarah allows herself to be drawn into Pepper's world of drugs and strippers. A quick trip to Las Vegas really opens up Sarah's eyes to the great big world, and also leads to some amorous feelings toward Pepper.

Clichés abound here as the mysterious stranger awakens the spirit of the small town dreamer; the taboo love story; the judgmental family and friends; and the "one last shift" to earn enough money to flee this small town and discover one's true purpose while living a carefree life. Pepper tosses out some philosophical musings and Sarah falls hook, line and sinker. We fully expect this to end badly for both.

Filmmaker Leite does a nice job of creating the feel of the night without judging its participants too harshly. Dianna Agron has the screen presence to pull off the innocent girl's self-discovery, while Paz de la Huerta has the mysterious quality of one to whom someone like the Sarah character would be drawn. It's interesting how Sarah is allowed to choose her own path, and explore the possibilities of what might be. At best, the film is one for a sleepless night, and it does provide two disparate female leads and a director who has earned more opportunities.

This is not exactly a glowing review, but I do want to address something before I get down to any critique.

Giving a film one star even though you think it deserves more is just a crass and cynical thing to do, and the guy who admits he did so should be ashamed of himself for doing it. There are people who absolutely loved this movie. Fans of the actors in particular, which is to be expected. I myself absolutely loved it when I first saw it at its world premiere, and even rescheduled my flight to go back and watch it again a few days later. The cinematography is brilliant, and the role that Dianna Agron plays is far removed from anything else she's done. Her character is very passive and quiet, and thus it falls on her to act as much with her body language and expressions as her spoken words. She pulls it off brilliantly. If you're like me, you may very well come away with an 8-star feeling on your first viewing.

Having said that, after watching it a few more times I've started to see some of the shortcomings, though I do still think it's a good film. First of all, I think it helps to be able to relate to or imagine growing up not just in a small town, but in a town with literally nothing to offer besides mind-numbing lack of social life and completely menial nowhere jobs. If you can't put yourself in those shoes, you likely will not get a lot of the film's impact. If you've ever had a time in your life where drinking beer by the dump and then shooting at the cans was the highlight of your week, you'll definitely see where this comes from. That's not really a shortcoming, but it does limit what a lot of people can really get out of the story.

As I said above, the cinematography was generally brilliant. The cameras and the way this movie was shot do a great deal to set the scenes, often as much or more than the actors. There are, however, times when this attempt at making art with the cameras actually resulted in scenes that were difficult to understand simply because they were too subtle. Too artistic rather than advancing the narrative. There are also a few times when the narrative is just plain interrupted with awkward dialogue that really could have been either done away with or done better in a perfect world. More on that below.

The main actors, including Sarah's family and friends, were all brilliant with the exception (in my mind) of Paz de la Huerta. She was almost right for the role, but in the end her mannerisms just became too much; too distracting. There were a few scenes where her portrayal was almost like a record skipping in the middle of a song, and honestly she could have toned things down a bit and been better.

One last issue is simply because of what the film is. An indie by a first-time director shot on a very tight budget and a very limited time frame. When you consider that, this really is an amazing end product. Having talked to the producers, I know there were scenes they wish they could have re-shot, dialogue they wish they could have smoothed out, things they wish they'd done differently. But unlike with major studio productions, you often only have one real shot at it. There's not room in the schedule to scrap a day of shooting and try it over again. There's not room in the budget to pay for the use of a location or the crew salaries to go back and do it over. You have to get it right the first time.

They mostly did, and if you look at it like that this is definitely an achievement. It's a story that's overall well told and beautiful to look at. Of course it's not a brand new story nobody's ever told before, but it is overall well done and I think this one has enough going for it (and enough different about it) to be more than worth watching. Give it a try and see for yourself. It won't be some cinematic epiphany or holy experience, but you may just be glad you did.

I cannot believe PDLH is allowed in movies, she looks like hell, and gives the most cliched bogus performance ever. Hideous. It is sad to see an addict just be herself, awful-looking. You've seen this movie 100 times, don't bother. It makes no sense that a blond babe would even give the tramp a second glance.

Came across this one by chance and decided to give it a try. This is a nicely made coming of age story that takes place in a small dead- end town in Nevada. We have seen stories like that many times before but this one still stood out for me for its feel.

The pace is just right so the film never gets dull despite the fact that it's a slowburner. The camera work is absolutely wonderful and definitely elevates certain scenes. Another thing worth mentioning is the soundtrack. If you love indie/alternative type of music (Chromatics, Part Time) you will be very pleased. The songs perfectly match the scenes. The one that especially stands out in my opinion is the desert scene with the snake, everything comes together nicely there making it almost hypnotic.

The acting is solid. Dianna Agron (The Family, I Am Number Four) and Paz de la Huerta (Enter the Void, A Walk to Remember, Boardwalk Empire) work well together and it's nice to see Dianna Agron doing something different and daring from her previous roles. The stand- out performance would have to be Chris Zylka though (Kaboom, The Leftovers), an obvious scene stealer in this one.

If you are a fan of indie films then I would recommend Bare. Just let yourself slowly be immersed in it and it will take you away a little for those 90 minutes.