kurtisjvandermolen

There is so much s&@t on celluloid. This was on my watchlist and I was not disappointed at the first local screening of this cinematic magic. I enjoyed the simple themes ('Maybe God intended for us to break out in dance even just once for a meaningful existence'.) Further the influences of layers of ebbs and flows in one's life presents a plausible ideal for why we flourish or wilt. That one person broke out in dance affecting a small crowd one day and apparently the whole world at a critical stage ("Thank you for 39 years, Chuck!") is to be celebrated and modeled as instructive in both the screenplay and on the corresponding platform of real life!

The self-referential and rapid-fire lines of this film did provoke chuckles and grins at times for sure. But on balance this was an exhausting movie to follow and enjoy. On par with a witty and highly intelligent slapstick comedy, only the well-read and highly cultured could genuinely guffaw at the crests of these waves of humor. The checklist of financial supporters became cumbersome and I almost wanted to make a pledge for an earlier conclusion and closing. Costumes and makeup were impeccable and cinematography was brilliant. Just couldn't take in the intended genre of comedy. As such this may be my last Wes experience.

The concept is intriguing: a coming-of-age boy-to-man's life orbits around his single mother's perpetual abuse. In a time-warp representation of his life, he discovers what his life should have been (a cornucopia of biblical images and themes in cartoon-fashion) but is quickly returned to reality at his mother's funeral. A series of deceptions lead to his final judgement by which he is condemned for both his indecision and his apparent disloyalty to his abuser in his fate. A number of themes exist including the narrative script of expectations imposed in life, and the continual eyes of judgment which follow the lifelong journey of the abused. Trauma upon trauma inspire this reactionary plot. The viewer is left with a very subjective perspective of the abused living a hell-like life experience only to be eternally judged by these same terms and conditions. However this viewer wonders is taken aback by the persistent and malevolent evil of the entire cast versus Beau. What is the point of such a landslide of destruction? How is the universal viewer instructed by this one-sided experience? Where is the balance of the story? Where is the hope? If literally everyone, thereby the system, is fully opposed and actively working against you from birth-to-death (save perhaps the Ryan character), what can be reasonably gleaned from this 188-minute experiment? Yet, brilliantly done and brilliantly acted, and the existential evil is actually quite comical throughout.