Blue Ridge

This was a drama, at least that's what I thought at first. I was about half way through and just too many subtle, sorta funny things happened. My gf didn't laugh out loud but I did notice that she too kept making a partial laugh noise. We did a few looks to each other back and forth.

Now I don't mean funny as in, this was written by a comedian funny, but in a very dark or just interesting funny kind of way. Did that make sense? I'd go so far as say there's a little bit of a Kubrick influence here in some fashion.

The landlord guy, played by the only actor I recognized, from Pi, was some smart or maybe just lucky casting. He had a blend of cheesy, dark, sleazy and sort of pathetic traits all mixed into one guy. I wish he had more screen time to say the hard truth. He wasn't the kind of guy you'd want as a neighbor but why did I feel sorry for him regardless? I'm still trying to figure that out.

Sara, the main lead, was an excellent blend of naive, lovable and strong. Wife material! lol

I can't quite explain what I mean about this being a little funny but it's worth a watch. And yes, it IS a drama in the end and it IS a little unconventional but, hey it was skillfully edited and I loved the cinematography as well.

I am writing this mainly because of what I read from two other reviewers who clearly don't watch these kinds of films. What the director has done here is no doubt more complex than it may first appear. I can see the usual action movie addict not liking this film because it does require a brain to contemplate, and I'm not saying that in some pretentious manner but saying it because there is a lot more going on here than you can see if you aren't in the mood to see something unfold without the usual big, obvious plot points. I saw a comment on Amazon stating it was "slow" and they gave it one star, which is simply ridiculous. I have seen 100's of indie films and this moves better than I'd say 80% of them.

At first you get to know the lead, J.T., and you aren't made to necessarily like him. He's a little unstable, odd and maybe a racist but you can't blame someone like this guy given his upbringing so stop being judgmental people. The trick is we are shown what he is, not some "save the cat" version of a studio character. Look up the book if you don't know it. J.T. is what he is, it's that simple. If you need more, then you are working from programmed expectations that people like Sony and Warner Brothers have drilled into your head.

Sara, his love interest, is also much more complex than some simple girl from a little house in the country. She is what he needs and nothing more, but how complex that can be! Is anyone more complex than what your wife or kid needs? The film moves well after we see these two lovers make plans to operate a used monkey-shaped amusement park ride at the beach. The director didn't seem to care about this plot device and I suspect he was forced into using something conventional like this so the film could seek out distribution easier. I would go so far as to say this could have been made almost silently and without convention but for the fans of non-studio fare, we know how those movies are treated and this path isn't very practical for many filmmakers. I think this film ties together enough conventional movie "standards" that the general public like so much and my my mom could even like it, but it allows me to enjoy it on another level and go along with the wink the director is probably giving us. The meat of this film is his use montage and it is done very well. The ending couldn't really be that much better and no, I did not see it coming.

Big nods to the camera work, shot selection and sound design as well. The sometimes odd casting keeps it surprising in a good way.

The slow start wasn't boring but it needed punching up. I thought about clicking off but the odd characters living in this mountain trailer park made me stick around. I soon forgot time and found myself getting into this oddball couple and the unique tone of this movie. It started paying off the closer to the end you got and oh boy, the last 5 minutes (no spoilers) was worth it. I had no idea where this was going and while shocked it made sense. The very ending had me drop a tear or two and i really felt for the girl. Thumbs up!

There isn't the slightest feel that this is a first film. The way things are framed, and the rhythm of the edits are first class.

The main actors are superb. There is no story to speak of, just enough events to serve the purpose of the thing, which is to allow a visit into a world where every quality of being is less. The setting is a small, remote trailer park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Other areas of the country claim eminence in poverty and ignorance, but in historical terms it all began in the hollows of those mountains — all the reduced wisdoms of blindness that surround us.

We meet a young man, the young woman who falls in love with him and the owner of the trailer park. That owner exploits our hero while being only half a peg up toward the completeness of spirit of the clearly intended audience. The mission of the film is to take us into that world, and it succeeds amazingly well. There is no irony; everything is played as straight as the lives portrayed.

The scenes in the trailer park are perfect. They do the job with precision and economy. Later, there is a voyage into a seamy environment which triggers events, changing things. This, it seems to me, is not done as well. I think that is because by then we are used to having the world presented to us through the eyes of trusted characters and this scene is just a collection of images. We lose the association with the main character.

Endings in films are rarely done well; endings in this kind of film are especially hard. The film creates a world and puts us in it. How do you end a world? What reason do we have to leave other than the rent in our theater seat is up? Story takes a back seat, so there is no story to end. We have the characters who connect us to this world, so the ordinary way out is to end the character. It is the weakest element of the project.

"Breathless" within "Pink Flamingos" is how I would describe this. Let's hope this crew has as much success as the makers of those films. They've earned the next step.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.