Relaxer

I was very much taken aback upon watching writer/director Joel Potrykus' previous film Buzzard. It's been a few years, but I remember appreciating it both as a great character study, as well as a love-letter to 80s and 90s pop culture (it was also very funny). I grew up in the 90s myself, and find my own nostalgia for that pre-smart phone, pre-internet period to be immense. When I read the premise of Potrykus' latest film Relaxer, I was naturally excited to see it.

Relaxer concerns woebegone slacker Abbie's inability to get off the couch. The film begins with his older brother Cam bullying him into completing a challenge involving drinking a certain amount of nebulous-looking milk, the successful completion of which Abbie places above, say, bathing or using a toilet. Cam disputes the successful completion of the dairy challenge and presents Abbie with a new one: conquering level 256 of Pac Man for a large monetary reward. Seemingly unable to stand up to his older brother or take care of his basic human needs, Abbie complies. The remainder of the film takes place exclusively in Abbie's disgusting apartment, where he is visited by some annoying friends who provide little relief to the situation. As the films continues, the absurdity level delightfully ramps up.

Even moreso than Buzzard, Relaxer harkens back to some dialogue heavy slacker films of yesteryear. I was reminded mostly of early Kevin Smith and Richard Linklater, partly for the geek culture reverie. There's also shades of Jim Jarmusch and Harmony Korine here.

Joshua Burge once again takes on the lead role, as he did in Buzzard. His droopy eyes and unusual appearance lend themselves well to these types of outsider roles, but that's not to take anything away from his acting chops. His understated performance nearly transcends the boredom of watching his one-note, arc-less character interact with other similar characters for an hour and a half. Alas, for a film that lives and dies on its dialogue, Relaxer isn't quite funny enough to negate the malaise. The film picked up some steam in its final act, but it felt too-little, too-late by then.

Unlike Buzzard, Abbie doesn't appear to be at odds with any internal struggle, other than completing whichever trivial challenge he's currently facing. Perhaps that Relaxer's point, and while authentic, doesn't make for a very entertaining film.

Qualms aside, I continue to appreciate Potrykus' unique vision, and eagerly await his next film.

This film gets two stars instead of just one from me because I sat through all of it to see how it would (could?) end. Otherwise my singular thought, when it finally did finish, was to regret not knowing where I first heard of it so I could ignore their recommendations forever into the future. Sorry if this offends anyone who enjoys "unique" films but I used to think I did too. Until this one.

This achieves a transcendence on the couch. It is the same mythos of the heroes journey. Eerie as he reaches there, we are suddenly viewing this film no different than Lord of the Rings or The Odyssey. It delves into Y2K, and we get that once in a while, the Mayan Prophecy, etc...

Comedically, this is the natural escalation of post-irony: we go so far into self-reference, the illusion would be breached. The mystery of those 8-bit games is they are so much larger than the screen because they exclusively operate in our imaginations due to limited graphics and technology.

I often wondered there must be untold secrets in those 8bit worlds, and I was not alone...new secrets are being found, new records achieved. It's as if the mathematical limitations of the code are constantly tested in our attempts to surpass the limitations of material existence.

The thing is Nietzschean as it explores the human impulse to break the code. By pioneering and stretching the spectrum of irony, one is constantly surprised to find there are outcomes.

It challenges Warhol that everything has been done. Evolution demands things be done.

It barely ever shows the game, it doesn't delve into the challenge. It isn't interested in the science fiction of it. The film is everything but the film. It just shows him on the couch. A theater of the slacker, where even the genX slacker is now an archetype from history.

Then in the process of finding the secrets of the game, he becomes the game. The One. The post-irony often lands at changing history because this is the current day digital frame that accommodates us-anywhere we take it, it accommodates-our narcissism has become the world entire. In indulging this, it somehow grants millennials and post-millennials outcomes, saying whatever is the economic, cultural, or societal collapse, everything is going according to plan.

If you think this is a comedy you may be an idiot If you made it all the way till the end like i did... you may be an idiot

3.9

I caught this film at Fantasia Festival this summer (July 2018). I had no idea what to expect and found myself pleasantly surprised by what I saw. I found Relaxer to be captivating of my attention throughout the entire film. I'm glad I checked this out.