Drawing Flies

*** out of **** I really enjoyed this neat little Canadian Gem. It was funny, interesting, realistic, creepy, and original. I've seen it four times now, and it is just as good as when i saw it the first.

A group of slackers have no money and are on the verge of actually getting a job when one of them, Donner(Jason Lee), wants to go to his uncle's cabin in the woods with them. What they don't realize is that Donner is going insane and really just wants to look for Sasquach. They're too stoned to realize this though and proceed with him into the woods.

The best thing about this film is definitely Jason Lee's performance. He gives so much depth and personality that could have otherwise been disposable. The rest of the characters are pretty much spot on. They are mostly likable, especially Renee Humphrey's character. The only one who doesn't quite work is Jason Mewes, although he is still funny as usual. In fact, the only real reason why his character doesn't work is because he practically plays the same person as he usually does. But he's good at it, so it doesn't really matter. Carmen Lee gives the film a nice dose of sanity while Martin Brooks does his thing.

I love the rough feel of the film and i like how deadpan it is. It is perfectly enjoyable. Maybe not life changing, but still pretty cool. Check it out, if you can find it!!! I showed it to my little sister and she loved it!!!

I watched this film the other day not knowing what to expect, only knowing that it was the "lost View Askew film", so I was pretty excited.

The film was, very indie, a lot of poor sound and at times boring and at times decent cinematography. And the Jake character and actor made me laugh/wince.

However, some very decent dialogue, an interesting storyline and an amazing performance by Jason Lee elevated this film.

I am a huge huge huge Jason Lee fan......I kinda wish I was him, and i have always thought he needs to get some deeper peformacnes. I love...LOVE his hilarious trademark characters in the Kevin Smith films, and a few others, but I think he needs some serious dramatic roles....this film provides him with some depth, some drama, and some chances for his hilarious self. Whenever he wasn't on screen i kinda spaced out and got bored. I know it's weird to say he's amazing in a pretty thin film like this, but he really was. I hope to see him get more starring and dramatic roles in the future.

If you've never heard of 'Drawing Flies', i don't blame you. If you aren't a fan of Kevin Smith, i don't know how you even got ahold of this review. But, anyways, let's focus on the movie. Very interesting indeed. When Kevin Smith was making 'Mallrats' in 1995, two friends, Malcolm Ingram and Matt Gissing, recruited cast members for their own little movie. From the Mallrats cast members, they managed to catch Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, Carmen Lee, Renne Humphrey, Ethan Suplee, Joey Lauren Adams, Scott Mosier and Kevin Smith himself. They managed to make this film which dissapeared pretty quickly. It never got a theatrical release and was only shown at small film festivals including Kevin Smith's own View Askew-fest 'Vulgarthon '98' and 'Vulgarthon 2000', festivals which feature films made by him and friends. Since then, it has became interest of all View Askew fans(Including me) who constantly bug Malcolm Ingram about it on Kevin's View Askew WWWBoard. One of the main reasons it was of interest to VA fans was because Kevin appeared as 'Silent Bob', a character he made famous in films like 'Clerks', 'Dogma' and most recently, 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'. On February 26th, it finally got its release on DVD along with a whole bunch of well-deserved extra features. After reading many reviews, it is, as Malcolm says in the commentary, 90 and 10. 90 percent of people don't like it and 10 percent do. I believe that i'm in the 10 percent of the people. The first time i saw it, i wasn't really sure what to think about it but the second time i saw it, i loved it. It's a really good film. The plot follows Donner(Jason Lee), Jake(Martin Brooks), Az(Jason Mewes), Meg(Rennee Humphrey) and Cassidy(Carmen Lee) who all live off welfare in Canada but one fateful day, they are cut off of welfare and have to find a way to survive. Donner suggests to go to his uncle's cabin in the middle of the woods. But what his friends don't know is the fact that he is going crazy and is actually looking for the legendary Bigfoot. Needless to say, chaos ensues as Donner gets more and more crazy. I really thought the comedy was funny, the drama was moving and the film overall was the kind of film Hollywood should be making but if Hollywood did, they would probably butcher it up. I highly recommend seeing 'Drawing Flies', it's the kind of movie that only comes around once in a century(Yes, you heard me. A century!).

9 1/2 out of 10

For those of you expecting a great Kevin Smith comedy, this is not it. This is basically a very good student film. The pace of this film is really uneven and the non-Jason Lee characters needed a little more depth. The sound and picture quality is a bit low - the audio almost drops out a couple times.

the good news: if you're a fan of Jason Lee you'll enjoy this one. He pulls an "Atlas" and carries the entire film. There is also some suprisingly good cinematography. I was suprised to see that 90% of the cast of Mallrats is in it.

bottom line: rent first, buy later.

I'm a big fan of Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes and the View Askewniverse but this movie was hard to sit through. I finally got to see this movie that I've wanted to see for a long time and no I can't get that time back. It's just a bit over an hour but seems longer. Not funny and boring. NOT a Kev Smith type of comedy. Watch when you have some time to burn if you want to see this.