The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle

I really liked this, but there are a few glitches that could bother people.

First, we are to believe that Dory quit his job, burned his bridges, and... is a janitor now? This sort of could be an "Easy Rider" moment, but instead we shift from sharp social commentary into a party-like janitor SF film. And then, outside of some quirky "religious" details, we end up knowing absolutely nothing about Dory's personal homelife, etc. It's one thing to overlook the other characters, but Dory is the lead! Come on!

From there, the quirky SF janitor party movie is light and fun. Well done, despite the excessive visual effects.

In the end, I definitely enjoyed it. The characters were individual enough, and the acting decent. It's just a shame they didn't dig deeper into the social commentary; it's there for sure, but never feels fully formed or defined.

This arthouse film left me speechless, honestly. I really appreciated all of the visual effects, and was already impressed with the film just from the title sequence montage...I thought it was beautiful, and couldn't wait to see what else was in store. For the most part, this movie is a narrative: you follow Dory along his journey of being a janitor and all the eccentric characters that come with it but don't get me wrong, it's not a boring narrative. There's countless really well done visual effects added throughout the movie that really just give it so much more character, alongside of course the cast of the supporting characters themselves that really take up lives of their own and leave you interested the whole time. I saw people mentioning that the acting fell short, but I've got to disagree and say that I found each character emitting quite a sense of themselves - enough for them to be quite believable and for you, the audience member, to not disregard them. Since to me, they all add to the charm of this movie. I thought that Dory shined, but I was most intrigued by OC and his persona. Anyways, because the eccentricities of all of the characters come across so clearly in their portrayal, the rather monotonous narrative of janitor-life is anything but. That being said the twist that comes at some point is really where it will either hook you in, or lose you completely - it just depends on you. I find this film hard to pick apart or judge because there's actually a lot of meanings and subtleties throughout that could actually lead you to getting meaning from it that I wouldn't even know how to mention. Much like Eraserhead, it's not just some bizarre arthouse movie, there's something deeper that they're hinting at - it's up to you to find it and interpret it how you will.

I wish I could give more points to this movie for comedy. It doesn't have the script for that, and thus not the timing. It's a pity. It is fun however, and there are many, many film techniques here, fast and snappy, with bursts of colourful imaginative animation (and the odd special effect), that make this movie part of a welcome indie genre, where you might include Me and Earl and The Dying Girl, for example. The story is wild. That was entertaining, even though as a consequence of that there were many 'vertigo' sequences, and I thought that was a tad overdone. Interesting alternative soundtrack was good too. I think they needed to use better cameras for depth of colour, and minimise any scenes that laboured into the irritating (such as the vertigo's and some of the more in-your-face behaviours). That's my opinion. I think this is the sort of movie that younger people will like being about younger people and their struggles, basically, at heart. It'll be probably controversial as well, I'd imagine.

Usually I'm very wary and skeptical towards these pseudo-artistic and experimental new cult movies, but this thing played at a local film festival and was scheduled in between two other movies I really wanted to see, so I just had to hold my seat. It's not like I regret this or anything, because "The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle" is an occasionally very fresh and charmingly creative Indie Sci-Fi/comedy, but it's unmemorable. Writer/director David Russo clearly bursts with brilliant and innovative ideas, but so far he still lacks experience, support and craftsmanship. You can tell straight away that that Russo prefers putting time in crazy gimmicks and eccentric visual effects rather than properly developing the story and characters. The opening credits sequence for example, depicting the long journey of a message in a bottle through the seas & rivers, is truly beautiful but irrelevant. It almost feels as if David Russo had a handful of innovative and elaborated artsy scenes in his head and then just quickly built a full feature length movie around them. That's a shame, because also the main plot outline shows great potential but remains largely unexplored. Dory, a young data accountant with a strange passion for studying the different religions, has a very bad day at the office and loses his job after a verbal outburst against a female colleague. He then accepts a low-profile janitor job in the office building of a marketing research company, working with a bunch of unconventional colleagues, like the toilet-art obsessed musician OC and the nymphomaniac couple Ethyl and Methyl. They are unaware that the sneaky marketing lady Tracy and her sleazy CEO are using the janitors as guinea pigs to test a new type of addictive cookies, which they leave lying around after office closing hours. The cookies quickly cause the janitors to suffer from outrageous hallucinations and stomach pains, but for the men there's another awkward little side effect. They're "impregnated" and rectally deliver some sort of bright blue fish-critter with a very short life-expectancy. The film is at least ten times weirder than the plot sounds already, but I personally would have preferred a more detailed exploration of the interesting themes like male pregnancy and unauthorized testing. "The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle" is full of redundant and delirious computer effects, like accelerated images and colorful hallucinations, and although they are neatly accomplished and nice to look at, they don't form an added value and eventually just gave me a headache. It's an interesting film, and David Russo is definitely a guy to keep an eye on, but sadly this isn't the alternative festival sleeper hit it could have been. The wide variety in musical is great, however, and the cast members (including a few familiar faces like Natasha Lyonne and Vince Vieluf) give away plausible and very dedicated performances.

There is a great deal to admire in this film, and a little to forgive. First, you have to remember that this is not your grandfather's film, or your Aunt Stacy's. It's not set up in that classical Hollywood vein where we in the audience all agree beforehand that, despite the clear gap between our real lives and what we will see on the screen, we are not actually watching a fictional construction. No, this film acknowledges from the start that it is all about a message that it needs to deliver. It's a more modern piece, and although there are moments that make me think of Network, the overall mood is perhaps more the farcical landscape of Dr. Strangelove.

As for the forgiveness that we must show, it's mostly towards the casting. It may be true that most of the actors are not polished gems - the lead, Marshall Allman is perfectly adequate but that is not the nicest thing one could say - but there's a good deal of craft in here, particularly from Vince Vieluf, and some fair turns,including those of Tania Raymonde and Richard Lefebvre.

I'm amazed to find that David Russo has not yet had a break-out film, either as a writer or director. This film is full of bright ideas, clever characterization and exceptional images. It's a very good example of story-telling, and it gets a ton out of what must have been limited production resources. I liked it a great deal, and I have no doubt whatsoever that there are a large number of people out there who would find more here to endorse than in a bucketful of more commercial fare. Yes, it's a festivally, arthousey kind of film, but that's because it has something to say and a new-ish way of saying it. Give it the time and the attention, and it will reward you at above minimum-wage rates.