Briar Patch

First of all, I really enjoy Dominique Swain in a very dramatic role like this one. Her emotions range perfectly from spastic to sultry to smart. I was very entertained by her performance in this film. I caught it on TV and found myself getting annoyed with the commercial breaks. I would love to see it unedited. The film reminded me very much of a Flannery O'Connor story. It was deranged and twisted, as her stories often are, and it had the Southern tragedy down pat.

I wish I had known of this film sooner. It didn't have a huge budget, I am sure. It was still very, very entertaining. I recognized many of the other actors such as Flowers and Edgar from other films and thought they were cast well for the roles they played. Strange and fascinating story that would seem unbelievable to most, which is what gives it such intrigue.

Young, pretty and dirt poor, Inez Macbeth lives in a squalid shack in the boonies, suffering the abuse of her criminal husband Edgar and the unwanted attentions of Edgar's repulsive, slow-witted partner Flowers, who slavers over her like a starved dog contemplating a steak bone. Inez runs around barefoot, dirty and frequently bloody from the beatings she receives from Edgar, who even chains her up. She lives only for her trips to town, where she visits a "licensed, semi-professional spiritual adviser" and her kindly and wealthy lover Drew, who plans to take her away with him.

After one particularly brutal beating by Edgar, Inez schemes to have willing dupe Flowers murder her husband and then take the blame for it himself, so she can run off with Drew. In the fallout from Edgar's murder Inez is freed of her husband, all right and even the police are happy to be rid of this criminal low-life, but Flowers turns out to be far more clever than expected, for he frames innocent, unfortunate Drew, leaving Inez with no where to go and no one to turn to, as Flowers finally takes her for himself.

This is a strong film about entrapment, desire and the wages of sin, with a good script and fine acting. Dominique Swain gives an affecting performance, managing to be sexy and fetching even under all that blood and dirt. Edgar and Flowers seem like real people - multi-dimensional and not the kind of one-sided, cardboard-cutout psychos found so often in movies. This picture is so gritty and realistic it may not suit all tastes but I highly recommend it - you may find it as powerful as I did.

Zev Berman, the director of "Plain Dirty", or "Briar Patch" as it's identified in these pages, takes a big chance in bringing this Deborah Pryor's screen play to the screen. First of all, this is a courageous piece of film making, and the characters in the film don't exactly endear themselves to the viewer. The film is a moody attempt to present us people that are living at the edge of society with basically no redeeming qualities to them, yet, we are hooked into watching the movie until the end, no small feat Zev Berman pulls on his viewers.

We were attracted to the movie on the strength of its excellent cast. Henry Thomas is an actor that is always interesting to watch. As Edgar, he is the man obsessed with Inez, a woman he mistreats endlessly. Inez, played by Dominique Swan, makes a good contribution to the film as the girl who can't take any more of the beatings she receives from Edgar. It's clear, from the start, that Flowers is secretly in love with Inez, but being such a sorry sight, knows he can't compete with Dru, the rich guy who wants Inez for himself. Both Artie Verveen and James Urbaniak are right on the money about how they play their characters. Also, Debra Monk, who is seen as the police officer Avon is, as always, excellent.

The film sort of hypnotizes the viewer with the cinematography of Scott Kevan and the haunting score by Nathan Barr. While it's clear that this is a not a film for a lot of people, as demonstrated by the many negative comments to this forum, the least one can do is watch it with some degree of respect because the tremendous job by Zev Berman has accomplished with this movie.

While it's not pleasant, it definitely sinks its hooks into you and stays for a while. This movie would be easy to dismiss as a Southern Gothic mess, but there is a fable quality that makes it hard to forget.

The performances are all very strong and the setting is excellent. In a way it's all about how our dreams possess us and motivate us, while simultaneously coming into collision with those dreamers around us. The frustration of the husband in trying to control his wife makes it easy to believe how far he's willing to go, and, therefore, how desperately she plots and conspires to be free.

You won't admire anybody's morals here, that's for sure, but you can't help empathizing with how strongly each person struggles for the vision of existence they wish to achieve.

Doesn't deserve the horrible rating the IMDb viewers gave or nor the cold shoulder it otherwise received. Sort of a poor man's Flannery O'Connor short

story. Almost works as a character study of the poor girl at the center of the picture and, in this regard, I believe that it was the movie's creator(s)' intention not to allow our hillbilly queen to garner our sympathy . Another plus is that the characters appear genuine when they could have easily been allowed to slide

into stereotypes. Holds your interest and maintains pace despite relatively

modest plot. Satisfying to know that this mild, unpretentious entertainment was made with such a modest -possibly nominal - budget. I'm thinking that the

naysayer's just didn't have the patience or humility to enjoy this film.