Film Geek

Film Geek is a film that comes around once in a lifetime. Director James Westby's grasp of Cinema is overwhelming. The film is everything that Napolean Dynamite should have been. The lead is a dork, loser type, but played to brilliance by Malik Malkasian. If the distributor of this film has a brain, they will roll it out on a grand scale. The movie is short, only 75 mins. But in that time frame, I laughed, I cried, and I was so deeply drawn into Westby's world, that I hoped the movie would go on forever.

If you get the chance to see this gem on the big screen, don't miss it. Westby and Malkasian could be the next Scorsese/De Niro.

5 Stars, A+, A perfect 10!!!!

I wanted to like this movie, but I didn't. It was simply too low budget to be enjoyable. The acting was generally pretty bad and the story was relatively formulaic.

There was a smattering of funny one-liners (most of which involved the word "basically"), but not nearly enough to get me through the 70 minutes without checking my watch.

Of course, as a film geek, I appreciated the references to lesser known directors and films. In fact, I would have loved it if that aspect of the film was played up. Instead, we get to see a corny pseudo-romance unfold and watch countless "Napoleon Dynamite" wannabe jokes fall flat.

The film doesn't work because the acting and storyline are subpar and the protagonist is a caricature who is far too one-dimensional to be even remotely believable. However, the cinematography is decent for a movie that seems to have been made for about $1000. The music wasn't too bad either.

If someone edited this down to only the obscure film references (which would probably run about 10 minutes), it would be funnier and much more digestible.

I wouldn't even recommend this one to cinephiles.

3 out of 10

File this one under: "Maybe hits just a little bit too close to home?"! Certainly, there have been moments in my life when I've felt people looking at me and thinking, "Where did this guy come from...Film Geeks 'R Us?" Have any of you had similar moments? FILM GEEK paints a most unflattering portrait of our young protagonist, Scotty Pelk (deftly portrayed by Melik Malkasian). Open the Cinema Dictionary and you'll see Scotty's photo under "Encyclopedic knowledge of the cinema". For those of us who aren't afraid to hold up a mirror to the soul for a circumspect search, we'll probably catch a fleeting glimpse of Scotty Pelk in some recess of our psyche. Movies are Scotty's universe...No friends, no family, absolutely no other interests. Working at a video store, his entire life, seemingly, revolves around films. Watching films, talking about films and writing about films on his Zero-hit website. He also exhibits borderline stalker tendencies. For those of you familiar with the Universal blog rule: Don't be that guy! Well, Scotty Pelk IS that guy!

Film Geek makes you chuckle at Scotty's lonely-loser life, but the laughter is followed quickly by pangs of voyeuristic guilt. Considering its zero budget (Well, 10K according to IMDb Pro) Film Geek is a cinematic miracle, where the viewer experiences amusement one moment, a haunting eeriness the next, followed by great pathos the next. Topping all this off is a curve ball plot twist, which would be a Spoiler if explained in any way.

To be sure, FILM GEEK is not without its faults. It does get off to a rather lackluster, slow and unevenly paced start. But that all rights itself within 15 to 20 minutes. Also, it seems a stretch to imagine a 20-something possessing such a voluminous knowledge of films, but stranger things have happened...O. K. YOU FILM GEEKs...

...ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!

I saw Film Geek at the Longbaugh Film Festival in Portland, OR not knowing what to expect, but I found that I discovered a wonderfully entertaining and quirky little gem of a movie. Melik Malkasian gives an incredible performance as Scotty Pelk the film geek who is a socially lacking, movie-obsessed video rental store clerk. When he is not at work, he spends most of his time serving as webmaster for his movie review website which hardly gets any traffic, masturbating, and obsessively watching movies alone in his apartment. The rest of the time he pathetically lusts after the bratty Kaitlin and and the icy-blonde Cindy who both despise him. Being as utterly clueless as he is he continually pursues them despite their rejection of him. In one of the funniest scenes in the whole movie life hits the bottom of the barrel for Scotty when he is fired from his job at the video store. He goes crazy running about the store turning everything into chaos. For this scene alone Malkasian should garner some awards attention. He combines the perfect balance of humor and quirk that is nothing short of brilliant in this scene.

Despite the low point Scotty has reached it also turns out to be a turning point when he meets the captivating Niko. Niko is a cool, Portland-hipster who loves movies (almost) as much as he does. Unlike everyone else in his life she doesn't mind discussing them with him and connecting with him in general despite his nerdy ways. Scotty soon realizes that he might just have met the love of his life. One of the main problems is that her scummy boyfriend just isn't going to let go so easily. Will Scotty's eventual fame at having his website be discovered enable him to win Niko in the end? Or will his clueless ideals and delusions just keep getting in the way? James Westby does an impressive job with his direction, writing and heartfelt realization of the many memorable and engaging characters and situations that make up Scotty's odd, crazy, hilarious and yet at times somewhat sad story.

This a really low budget film, like say Primer style low budget. But like Primer it's executed perfectly for what they have to work with and it comes out really entertaining and feels more real and personal this way. This is a very cute film. Melik Malkasian is just perfect as the film geek and although not of equal caliber actor, he really reminds me so much of Rami Malek from Mr. Robot. He plays this role with just as much conviction as Rami in Mr Robot. (See I didn't even notice that their names were also similar til now)

This film is kinda embarrassing at times because Scotty can be so socially awkward but it's never pushed like in other bad films to levels that are overly uncomfortable like say Jim Carey has done in the past or the Wayan Brothers do in virtually every movie they make. Its just the right amount to seem realistic. Even Napoleon Dynamite did this a bit too much and made it hard for me to enjoy that film. If your a fan of movies like Revenge of the Nerds, you will really like this one even though its low budget, the message of the movie really comes across well. That message being that even though you may be outside what's considered "Normal" by society; if you're a good person, passionate, and good at something, eventually you'll find a niche of people to appreciate what you can do.

The world is full of different kinds of people and there's a place for everyone. Very well done movie!