Manson Family Vacation

'MANSON FAMILY VACATION': Four Stars (Out of Five)

A comedy-drama flick; about two brothers, touring all of the Charles Manson murder sites together. The film stars Jay Duplas and Linas Phillips, as the brothers. Jay and Mark Duplas, also executive produced the low budget movie; which was funded (with $40,000) by a Kickstarter campaign. The movie was written and directed by (first time filmmaker) J. Davis; Davis and Jay Duplas previously co-wrote the 2011 documentary flick 'KEVIN' (which Duplas directed). The movie is interesting, funny and involving; it's a pretty well made little indie flick.

Duplas plays Nick; a devoted family man, with a wife (Leonora Pitts) and a young son (Adam Chernick). Nick's adopted brother, Conrad (Phillips), recently quit his job, and he's traveling through town; so he decides to pay Nick a visit. While staying with Nick, and his family, Conrad asks Nick to tour all of the Charles Manson murder sites with him (which he's obsessively fascinated by). Despite the fact that Nick is repulsed by the idea, he reluctantly agrees.

The movie is quirky, and awkward; two great things in any film (for me). It's funny, in places, but it's also a great character study. Duplas and Phillips both give good performances, and they're both able to really flesh out their characters. The concept, for the film, is bizarre; but oddly fascinating too. It's actually a really interesting way to get to know the two lead characters. The filmmakers did a remarkable job, for such a low-budgeted movie! I'm always impressed with anything either Duplas brother does, though.

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I stumbled across this film and did not know what to think. I have to admit I am a historian on this topic, couldn't tell you why, just am. The movie centers around two brothers who have grown up quite differently under the same roof. Turns out one brother was adopted and the other was the natural son of the father. The adopted son (Conrad) was treated poorly and as a result, has developed into somewhat of a hopeless misfit. Conrad also has a very voracious appetite for all things Charles Manson and very much desires to visit all places in the Los Angeles area that have a connection with the Manson family. Conrad also insists that his brother come along for the field trip. As the story develops, not too subtle hints start to occur that Conrad's interest in Manson is more than just that of a groupie. There is some humor to be had here and the southern California sites are pretty dang neat. However, some of the parts of the story strain credibility, seriously. I think having extensive knowledge of information dealing with this story tipped some stuff that regular people would not get. It also caused me to think a lot of the material was very unrealistic. I don't know how to feel about this movie. It was entertaining enough, but I did have problems with the lighthearted approach and levity associated with a loathsome murderer like Manson. I think too many people have diluted his evil, including these filmmakers. Moreover, the character of Conrad was incredibly irritating and lacking in any empathy. I think if you have interest in this topic, you might find it entertaining, but I am not sure why.

Nick and Conrad (Jay Duplass and Linas Phillips) grew up under the same roof; Conrad was the child their parents adopted because they couldn't conceive, but then along came Nick after a successful pregnancy. This tension has lived with them throughout their entire lives, as the attention that was absorbed by Conrad, who, no matter which way you want to slice it, was still somewhat of an outsider in his own home, became second to Nick once their parents conceived their very own child.

In the present day, Nick has become a prominent family-man with his wife Amanda (Leonora Pitts) and son in their beautiful home, and the thought of his brother Conrad only sporadically crosses his mind. One day, however, Conrad surprises them by showing up at their doorstep with a Charles Manson shirt on and a desire to continually discover more about the famous murderer. Conrad's fascination with Manson stems from Manson's emphasis on family, despite being an outsider. Manson helped gather a group of people together that were rejected from society and made each of them feel loved and welcome, all while encouraging ideas of love and forgiveness, but also incorruptible unity and togetherness at all times.

Being that Conrad has chosen to reject all conventional American sentiments and live life by way of cross-country hitchhiking, his unannounced arrival at Nick's house is an effort to initiate some brotherly bonding before Conrad goes off to work at a job in Death Valley. This kind of bonding involves both men sneaking around and breaking into the famous home where the Tate/LaBianca murders occurred decades ago, in addition to attending a party where all the guests are Charles Manson loyalists.

J. Davis's Manson Family Vacation, another line in decidedly small-scales movies put out by Duplass Brothers Production, run by both Jay and Mark, takes the oldest trick in comedic filmmaking (two vastly different personalities) and uses it as the thesis for a film that deals with an outsider's obsession with a murderer. Conrad is so fascinated and gripped by Manson's politics and life story that he almost entirely forgets - and even makes an effort to conceal, in the manner of a conspiracy theorist - the fact that Manson, regardless of anything he said or believed, was a murderer. This fact greatly disturbs Nick, who is so far out of his element when it comes time to sneak into the Tate/LaBianca home that he might as well be thrust onto a different planet.

This is a film that's almost unclassifiable in terms of its genre. It blends deadpan, mumblecore-style comedy with slowburn tension and horror in a way that has the two meshing together so nicely that when you're supposed to laugh or fear isn't readily dictated by the events of the film. Manson Family Vacation is also not brazenly funny enough to be a black comedy, nor consistently unsettling to be a horror film. Writer/director Davis, who has worked with the Duplass brothers before, exquisitely conducts this film like as an act of genre revisionism that's rarely seen, especially in such a smooth and seamless manner.

Largely predicated on the relationship between the two men in the film and the two aforementioned moments of their brotherly bonding that take a turn for the worse, Manson Family Vacation is more-or-less a filmed idea than a conventional film, given how few events take place and how little the characters seem to develop. Nonetheless, there's a lovely quietness to this film and a true desire to profile the characters as they are, and the way Davis does that, while crafting a story that burns as slowly as an unpuffed cigarette, despite a very concise eighty-four minute runtime, is something that's difficult to ignore.

Starring: Jay Duplass, Linas Phillips, and Leonora Pitts. Directed by: J. Davis.

It's just rubbish. It doesn't have any value. The movie is called "dark humour" but where was the jokes? If you call a movie like "Dictator" or "Borat" hard humour, that's okay, because it's true. After seeing this nonsense I just wanted my 1,5 hour of my life back. It's just boring, the main idea is lame, it doesn't have ending, a lot of plot jumps, actors were so, so, could be better tho. I would never recommend to watch this movie.

I felt compelled to inform interested watchers that the 5.8 IMDb score for this movie is way wrong. This is my first review and after watching this heartfelt movie, I decided that writer and director J. Davis does not deserve this movie to be poorly rated.

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the story, characters and acting. The dialogue felt real and kept us interested throughout. Linas Phillips was a joy to watch and Jay Duplass adds his touch of realism to it as he did in Transparent.

Do yourself the favor of watching this film. I am sure I am not alone in how I rate this movie.