Contenders serie 7

SERIES 7: THE CONTENDERS is both a taut thriller and a deft satire on the outlandish lengths TV networks will go to in order to lure viewers. Set in the near future, SERIES 7 is cleverly constructed as a marathon of seventh-season episodes of "The Contenders," a hit reality show in which contestants are selected via state lotteries and given guns with which they're expected to hunt down and kill their fellow contestants (although they're free to use their own weapons and be inventive). The object: to stay alive. The prize: whoever remains alive after 3 Contenders seasons wins his/her freedom from the high-rated program/ordeal. The champ is Dawn Lagarto (Brooke Smith of SILENCE OF THE LAMBS), a pregnant, troubled but essentially decent drifter. Trapped in the program for the past two seasons, Dawn's reluctantly willed herself into becoming a frighteningly efficient killing machine to keep herself and her unborn baby alive. For her third and final season, "The Contenders" sends Dawn to her hometown of Newbury, Connecticut. Her fellow contestants/adversaries include prim but ruthless ER nurse Connie (Marylouise Burke of MUST LOVE DOGS and A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION); teenage Lindsay, whose well-meaning but overbearing parents (Mom is played by Donna Hanover, TV personality and Rudy Giuliani's ex!) coach her for the show as if she were trying out for an athletic competition; unemployed asbestos-removal worker Tony, who's trying to use this cruel TV twist of fate to unite his family; crazed conspiracy theorist Franklin; and Jeff, an artist who's dying of testicular cancer -- and who also happens to be Dawn's high school sweetheart. The lingering flames of love and resentment between these two, and the reactions of Jeff's long-suffering wife, provide the film's most poignant and suspenseful moments, as well as one of its funniest: clips of the low-budget student film they made in high school, including every 1980s video cliché imaginable and Joy Division's technodirge "Love Will Tear Us Apart" on the soundtrack. SERIES 7's authentically television-like feel is augmented by its story being told entirely through such TV conventions as bumpers, interviews, voiceovers, cutaway footage, dramatic re-enactments of events by doubles, and exciting tag lines ("Real people...in real danger...in a fight for their lives!"). We even meet most of the characters as they're notified of their selection for "The Contenders" on-camera, as the show's masked, armed minions come to the new contestants' homes like sinister Publishers Clearing House representatives. These TV gimmicks create deliciously satirical overtones in and of themselves, and yet the movie's irony and gallows humor works precisely because it's all played absolutely straight, not with the "nudge nudge wink wink" air that too many recent thrillers have overdone in their attempts to be edgy and postmodern. But the film's brilliant craftsmanship wouldn't be nearly as effective without the power of the fine cast's performances, particularly Brooke Smith; her riveting performance makes Dawn the emotional center of SERIES 7: THE CONTENDERS. That said, the film also chillingly portrays the way fear and self-preservation can turn even the most decent human being into a stone-cold killer. This sharp, smart, exhilarating thriller works on so many levels, and it's got one of the niftiest twist endings in ages, too! Somehow, I suspect it's only a matter of time before a real-life reality show figures out a way to go this far... :-)

Series 7: The Contenders, is a very twisted black comedy about six contestants on a reality show. The premise of the reality show is that the contestants are given weapons and have to murder each other in order to win. The contestants include a mentally insane man living in a trailer park, a cancer patient, a religious nurse, a high school teenager, a middle-aged father, and (the reigning champion) a pregnant woman. The film is structured as a marathon showing and is played as a series of episodes strung together each following these contestants. The film depicts these people as normal and everyday people who are forced into this terrible situation against their will, but the real meat of the film comes in when we get to learn about the histories of some of these characters. That's the point of the film where the film grows out of being a spoof of reality shows and begins to manifest into a social commentary. The high school teenager has parents who encourage her every step of the way and help her suit up for the murders that she is about to commit. The pregnant woman has been disowned by her own mother due to past incidents. The middle-aged parent has his own troubles at home. There's a lot more going on here than at first glance. This is an angry and dark satire that really challenges some of the concepts of reality and the satire of itself.

There's a lot here that I truly admire. For starters, the performances. They are pretty awful in a way that, at times, seems cringe-worthy. However, when you take a look at reality television shows such as Survivor and The Real World, the acting in those is even worse. It's supposed to be reality, yet the people in them are not believable. That's what makes reality television such a joke, and so in a roundabout way of saying things the performances here are good because the actors are good at capturing the melodramatic mannerisms of the contestants at large. I particularly enjoyed the performance of Brooke Smith as the pregnant woman. She is ridiculously cold and cruel and monstrous, and you can really feel the bitterness that she feels. Yet her mannerisms are so sarcastic and almost pathetic. The same goes for the rest of the cast, but Smith has a visual presence to her that I've always admired. She's a terrific actress. Nobody can forget her performance as the kidnapped victim in The Silence of the Lambs. I've seen some of her television work as well and she almost always sticks out in a good way. Merritt Wever and Glenn Fitzgerald do an equally good job as the teenage girl and the cancer patient, the former being the most likable person in the cast and the latter having all of the best lines and being the most interesting of all the characters.

My favorite thing about this film, however, has to be the momentum of it. Series 7: The Contenders is almost never boring and there's always something going on. It's virtually impossible to stop watching once you've started, even if you pick up in the middle of it. I think this was done intentionally. I think a lot of televisions shows have that same kind of watchability factor, and what I appreciated the most about this film is that there were no commercials that cut into the action. The satire of the film itself is simple and clever, but even if you put all that aside, you still have one hell of a captivating film. Putting the climax of the film aside, you do get to care about almost all these characters and you don't particularly want to see any of them die really.

If you want my personal opinion on the film, I cannot say that I like it too much. I don't personally find the film itself to be very funny. I like dark humor, but I thought that this was too sick, really, to be funny. I also really don't like the ending. It felt like I was being beaten over the head by the satire. I also find that the film itself isn't exactly re-watchable. Once you know how it all ends, you really don't have any desire to ever really sit down and watch it. There are films out there that are sick and that you never really WANT to watch again, but at the same time you feel you should and can't help but feel the need to sit through it, but Series 7: The Contenders plays all of it's cards in one sitting and as a result you really don't feel any desire to absorb any of it. It's more the type of film that you just appreciate rather than like and enjoy. I can imagine a lot of horror fan and readers of Fangoria would love it to pieces or at least get a huge kick out of watching it. In my opinion, as brilliant and as clever as it is, I definitely wouldn't advise mainstream moviegoers to watch this. I thought it was a brilliantly directed film in a lot of ways, and the satire was effective, but I can't exactly recommend it. I'm glad I saw it though.

This is the ultimate show of its kind - six people play a 'Survivor' game, but this is real survival - they will kill one another until only one survives. They are selected by chance, we have no clue why, and there seems to be no price. The only thing the winner earns is getting enrolled in another mortal round.

The formula works pretty well for the first half. Good, fast filming, credible acting, interesting characters. The problem is that by the second half the needed development of the characters does not happen, and for lack of anything else the script falls into previsible melodrama. It's a miss, but still the film is worth viewing, and it really says something about our sensation thirsty society.

These days it is difficult to satirize reality TV and reality video because material like THE LITTLEST GROOM, THE AMAZING RACE, BOOT CAMP, SURVIVOR and BUMFIGHTS already exist.

SERIES 7: THE CONTENDERS is an ultra-efficient rendering of the imagined next step in reality programming in which "contenders" must kill in order to survive.

To their credit, the filmmakers never step outside the game itself.

Clever graphics, voice-overs and reality-style camera-work achieve a high level of illusion. The "contenders" themselves are well characterized and we get to understand the complexities that drive them.

As entertainment SERIES 7 is seductive and exciting. As satire it is sharp and black as pitch.

Fans of `reality' TV are going to love this one, and even those whose tastes run contrary to such offerings are going to find this indie film a riveting experience. Like `Survivor,' the name of the game here is, well...survival; but with one significant difference from any of the shows you've seen on television: The winner in `Series 7, The Contenders,' written and directed by Daniel Minahan, will be the only one from among the contestants still standing at the end of the show, meaning `alive.' Yes, that's right, the object of the game here is to eliminate the opposition, as in `kill' them-- by whatever method available. Guns, knives, bombs, blunt instruments, anything goes; whatever it takes to do in the other guy (or gal). And it ain't over till it's over, which means when five are dead, and only one remains.

Of the six in contention this week, the returning champion, with ten kills to her credit, is 30ish Dawn Lagarto (Brooke Smith), who also happens to be eight months pregnant. She'll be pitted against Connie Trabucco (Marylouise Burke), a nurse; Tony Reilly (Michael Kaycheck) a husband and father of three; Franklin James (Richard Venture), the oldest of the bunch; teen Lindsay Berns (Merritt Wever); and finally, Jeffrey Norman (Glenn Fitzgerald), an ex-boyfriend of Dawn's, who has his own reasons for being in the game. And so it begins; and the question now is, of the six, which will become the hunters, and which the hunted? Does Dawn stand a chance of putting five more notches on her scorecard? Or this week, will one of the other five prevail, and walk away with the cash? Or, more notably, be the `one' who is able to do so.

It was inevitable that this film-- or one like it-- would be made, given the way television has been saturated with `reality,' the past few years. And since it had to happen, at least it was born of, evolved and guided by the artistic capabilities of Minahan, who has crafted and delivered a gripping, thought provoking satire that reaches it's apex of effectiveness hours, or even days, after the film has ended; because for anyone with any scruples at all, this film will linger in the memory like a phosphene caused by rubbing the eye, and it'll take that long to even begin to sort out the myriad implications of it all. The obvious question/message of the film is, of course, just how far should/could/can society go in this direction before realizing the consequences of the moral turpitude `reality' shows must necessarily embrace to be successful. Minahan does not moralize overtly, however; rather, he very subtly plants the suggestion of what the next step in real life may be within the matter-of-fact presentation and context of his story. And he does it with such precision that it is not until much later that the full impact of it hits you, and it's then that you understand how extremely appalling and depraved the concept is when extrapolated to the nth degree, as Minahan so aptly illustrates here.

Minahan's approach may be more clever than imaginative, as his film plays out as if it were lifted from the negative of `Survivor' or one of it's clones. But it's cleverness at it's best. A film cannot seem this true-to-life and entirely natural without a lot of hard work that includes technical knowledge, an eye for detail and an impressive grasp of human nature; Minahan didn't just walk onto the set one day and crank out such an accurate duplication of a `reality' show. It begins with the astute insights Minahan weaves so incisively throughout his screenplay, and culminates in the way he translated it all to the screen. Watching this film is something akin to watching Jim Carrey early in his career doing Henry Fonda, or Kevin Spacey doing Christopher Walken or Pacino; it's the kind of professional impersonation/interpretation that just doesn't get any better.

What makes it so enthralling is that Minahan so succinctly captures that documentary look and feel of what has become a `genre' of television, and like the best of them, he lets you get to know the contestants-- through interviews and `mini-bios'-- before the bloodbath begins, so that you can pick your favorites and put your money on the one you think has what it takes to win. He creates a genuine `sporting event' atmosphere, which works at the time-- it puts you in the moment and draws you into the action-- but in retrospect, it makes all that has transpired and everything you've witnessed seem even more disconcerting (which is, of course, the idea). And you realize, finally, that you've been duped into accepting the unacceptable, and moreover, made to believe by some perverse rationalization of thought that it was all right; which in itself is a keen observation of the power of the medium through which it is proffered.

To make the `reality' convincing, the performances, of course, had to be convincing; and they are. Minahan extracts precisely what was needed from his actors to really sell the show, beginning with Brooke Smith's portrayal of Dawn. This is the central character of the film, so it was imperative that she be especially believable, and Smith pulls it off beautifully. As you watch her, you never get the feeling that you're watching an actor; in keeping with the documentary feel of the film, this is Dawn, a young, pregnant woman involved in a game of killing for cash. it's a solid performance, the kind of which is often overlooked or taken for granted precisely because it is so natural.

The supporting cast includes Donna Hanover (Sheila), Angelina Phillips (Doria), Nada Despotovich (Michelle) and Alex Yershov (Nathan). To call this film pure entertainment would be wrong; to call `Series 7, The Contenders' an entertaining indictment against moral sense and sensibility, however, would be accurate. It's one that's definitely going to make you stop and think; and consider. 7/10.