Mustang Island

Dull , hopeless, bland.... Good movie to run in the background while you are picking your feet.... this review is not worth me spending my time to contain at least 150 characters..... did I hit it yet?

Honestly, I'm only 21:00 min deep, but l'm blown away by the DP.

Movies are like food, beverage, music: you find it palatable or don't, depending on your taste buds. It's a pleasure for me to stumble upon a beautifully filmed piece as this. I give it an 8, as the story isn't stellar, the plot trivial, but the cinamatography pulls on its bootstraps and I find myself pausing just to observe the shots. I'm currently annoying a friend sending him screne grabs: "Look at that framing. Notice the edge of the house and balcony create ANOTHER perfect triangle to the backdrop. Even the watertower is rectangular and falls into the rule of thirds."

I'm sensing th DP iintentionally focusing on lines, rectangles, squares. During the initial road trip to the island: the pickup and the shadow trailing; the fence posts; the stilts on houses. Then the waterway. Like greek columns rising. Even the palm trees provide rectangular symmetry. The concave building with square windows. At the beach house, the kitchen cabinets, starcase, vents, panelling. All these were thoughtfully chosen.

Upstairs bedroom: bunkbed, vents, blinds, staircase railing. It's obvious the DP was viewing Galveston through the eyes of rectangular symmetry. Although the film from a storytelling standpoint isn't a masterpiece, the visuals make it a gem on my list.

Don't get me wrong, the humor is there, the acting is fine; it's simply a matter of the visuals overarching the story, in IMO. With that said, the story itself is not a pass. You can still enjoy the story without creaming over the visuals.

Bottom line, if you're into cinamatography, don't pass on it. Folks giving it one star are not fans of the visual nor slow storytelling. Hat off to the DP. Good on you.

Some reviewers have likened this film to the work of Jim Jarmusch, and I can see that to a degree, specifically his early black and white films that featured trios of fairly deadpan characters. The humor in Mustang Island is not as dry as in the Jarmusch films, and here the protagonist is explicitly lovelorn. The tracking shots to hip music as the characters arrive at the island reminded me of the scenes of driving around New Orleans in Down By Law. And there my comparisons end!

I thought the Mustang Island locations were great, and I thought the cinematography was pretty good, particularly the night shots. The amusement park in the background in a few shots was particularly evocative. I really liked that a lot of scenes unfolded without dialog, though there were some rather funny lines in the script, which I didn't write down, so no spoilers here! The interactions among the characters seemed realistic to me, with appropriate awkwardness.

I liked this film, though my rating may not seem so high -- I don't believe I've ever given a 10 here, and my 9s are not so common. I look forward to seeing more films by Craig Elrod.

Real people, real feelings, real kinda resolution. Whoever wrote and created this movie never once stepped back from their respect for their characters; never made a joke at the characters' expense; never caricatured them. I cared for the main players. And the teen-age wahoos were perfect - absolutely heartless and dumb. Thanks for pushing me to go back to working on my new novel. That's the highest praise I can give.

An off-beat, slow paced, beguiling film that left me not only satisfied, but with a desire to watch it again - which I did. Beautifully filmed in black and white, some scenes will remain in my mind for a long time. This film does not rely and spectacular, over the top visuals, nor ear-splitting crashes, but upon well crafted visuals that say more with less. The acting is superb with unforgettable characters.