Bare

This is the worst movie I've ever been forced to sit through. Not sure how this even got made, luckily the general public will be spared as it won't ever be in a real movie theater.

Diana Agron and Paz De la Huerta are good actors but not in this film. It is pretty to look at, yet has absolutely no real direction or vision. There is no story, just fragments and half ideas thrown together. And despite being made by a woman director, it is full of the male gaze and old stereotypes. It's also extremely white and lacks diversity.

Plot synopsis: Poor young white woman in a small town who thinks her only way to escape is to become a stripper.

This is a very narrow-minded and contrived film with a formula we've seen a million times in bad 80s films. It's like the director just replaced the stereotypical bad-ass guy in a leather jacket with Paz De la Huerta.

Came across this one by chance and decided to give it a try. This is a nicely made coming of age story that takes place in a small dead- end town in Nevada. We have seen stories like that many times before but this one still stood out for me for its feel.

The pace is just right so the film never gets dull despite the fact that it's a slowburner. The camera work is absolutely wonderful and definitely elevates certain scenes. Another thing worth mentioning is the soundtrack. If you love indie/alternative type of music (Chromatics, Part Time) you will be very pleased. The songs perfectly match the scenes. The one that especially stands out in my opinion is the desert scene with the snake, everything comes together nicely there making it almost hypnotic.

The acting is solid. Dianna Agron (The Family, I Am Number Four) and Paz de la Huerta (Enter the Void, A Walk to Remember, Boardwalk Empire) work well together and it's nice to see Dianna Agron doing something different and daring from her previous roles. The stand- out performance would have to be Chris Zylka though (Kaboom, The Leftovers), an obvious scene stealer in this one.

If you are a fan of indie films then I would recommend Bare. Just let yourself slowly be immersed in it and it will take you away a little for those 90 minutes.

This is not exactly a glowing review, but I do want to address something before I get down to any critique.

Giving a film one star even though you think it deserves more is just a crass and cynical thing to do, and the guy who admits he did so should be ashamed of himself for doing it. There are people who absolutely loved this movie. Fans of the actors in particular, which is to be expected. I myself absolutely loved it when I first saw it at its world premiere, and even rescheduled my flight to go back and watch it again a few days later. The cinematography is brilliant, and the role that Dianna Agron plays is far removed from anything else she's done. Her character is very passive and quiet, and thus it falls on her to act as much with her body language and expressions as her spoken words. She pulls it off brilliantly. If you're like me, you may very well come away with an 8-star feeling on your first viewing.

Having said that, after watching it a few more times I've started to see some of the shortcomings, though I do still think it's a good film. First of all, I think it helps to be able to relate to or imagine growing up not just in a small town, but in a town with literally nothing to offer besides mind-numbing lack of social life and completely menial nowhere jobs. If you can't put yourself in those shoes, you likely will not get a lot of the film's impact. If you've ever had a time in your life where drinking beer by the dump and then shooting at the cans was the highlight of your week, you'll definitely see where this comes from. That's not really a shortcoming, but it does limit what a lot of people can really get out of the story.

As I said above, the cinematography was generally brilliant. The cameras and the way this movie was shot do a great deal to set the scenes, often as much or more than the actors. There are, however, times when this attempt at making art with the cameras actually resulted in scenes that were difficult to understand simply because they were too subtle. Too artistic rather than advancing the narrative. There are also a few times when the narrative is just plain interrupted with awkward dialogue that really could have been either done away with or done better in a perfect world. More on that below.

The main actors, including Sarah's family and friends, were all brilliant with the exception (in my mind) of Paz de la Huerta. She was almost right for the role, but in the end her mannerisms just became too much; too distracting. There were a few scenes where her portrayal was almost like a record skipping in the middle of a song, and honestly she could have toned things down a bit and been better.

One last issue is simply because of what the film is. An indie by a first-time director shot on a very tight budget and a very limited time frame. When you consider that, this really is an amazing end product. Having talked to the producers, I know there were scenes they wish they could have re-shot, dialogue they wish they could have smoothed out, things they wish they'd done differently. But unlike with major studio productions, you often only have one real shot at it. There's not room in the schedule to scrap a day of shooting and try it over again. There's not room in the budget to pay for the use of a location or the crew salaries to go back and do it over. You have to get it right the first time.

They mostly did, and if you look at it like that this is definitely an achievement. It's a story that's overall well told and beautiful to look at. Of course it's not a brand new story nobody's ever told before, but it is overall well done and I think this one has enough going for it (and enough different about it) to be more than worth watching. Give it a try and see for yourself. It won't be some cinematic epiphany or holy experience, but you may just be glad you did.

This movie is amazing! It is a unique story told beautifully with a very talented cast.. Diana Agron and Paz De la Huerta are amazing in it! I already can't to see it again. It's beautifully shot and well put together. Always glad to see female directors shine! Impatiently waiting for it to be released in theaters...

Plot synopsis: Sarah Barton, played by the lovely Diana Agron, is a young girl from a Nevada desert town. After she is fired from her job, she meets Pepper, played by the amazing Paz De la Huerta, a female drifter. Pepper brings Sarah into her dangerous world of drugs and strip clubs led down a dangerous path of illicit drugs and seedy strip clubs. When they become romantically involved, Sarah begins to question the old boring girl she once was.

You can feel how the story portrays something real, unlike the superficial world we all pretend to play in. Although the people around her seem to be in control of their lives, thus knowing best; no one there is even close to noticing what is really going on right in front of them; yet the main character breaks these bounds. Judging anything, to include this movie one should be careful not to fall into the same trap as the majority of the people in script, because everything is valid, and we must look deep inside where we are not comfortable and see the real beauty in front of us.

Dianna Argon played her role in this movie wonderfully, always in tune with what I believe the director had intended. A promising career no doubt.