Ricky 6

It's been over two years now since I saw Peter Filardi's masterful take on the Ricky Kasso crimes. This was at a festival screening and since that time it almost feels as if the entire experience was a dream - because there's no bloody way for me to revisit this utterly amazing film! From memory as hallucinatory as the teenage wastelands that Filardi's film so accurately portrays, Ricky 6 was a mindblower. I felt it, everyone in the cinema felt it. And now it's nowhere to be found? NOWHERE?! When films as effective (and dare I say it - commercially accessible) can't get properly released I just don't know what to think. Ricky 6 is sharp, startling, surprisingly funny and more entertaining than a true crime film has any right to be, yet unlike its central character, this film has certainly not sold its soul.Its characters are sincere. Its direction is bullet-proof. It's atmosphere is marinated in melancholy yet its tone is energetic and consistently invigorating, with subtle surrealism creeping into day-to-day life like traces of a bonfire long extinguished but ever-present. I can't wait to see what this inarguably gifted filmmaker does next. This is precisely the teen drama that America needs.

Ricky 6, by Peter Filardi, is a very exquisite looking film with more to it than what some might think. This film is not a horror film but more a biographical story of a tragedy that happened in real life. Ricky, in this film, is your basic teenager that isn't the best looking or most popular kid in his school. Like many kids nowadays he has family problems but is also schitzophrenic. He falls back on drugs to relate to others and makes friends but also uses Satanism as a form of escaping his real life. Ricky 6 is a sad story that had a real impact on me and will for many others. Filardi uses beautiful filmmaking during the drug enduced scenes and makes all of the characters likeable and realistic. Abuse, both drug abuse and physical abuse, is common in todays suburban homes. Unfortunately, this abuse comes hand in hand with suicide. The story of Ricky, who was supposedly a very good kid, had to be told and this film does it very well also adding in the underlying tone of todays youth.

I first saw this film 20 years ago, my ex was extremely excited to watch a copy that he probably obtained illegally from somewhere, but nevermind. My original impression of this film is that it was just okay. It really is way too long, it's very sad...but kind of in an "after school special" sort of way, and what I remember most were thinking that all of the "visions" that the fictional Ricky has are cheesy and not well done at all. I thought movies like Gummo were much more disturbing late 90s/early 00s depictions of the sad sorts of members of society that usually end up exploited.

A brief flip through a terrible, blurry copy brings it all back - the intensely suburban vibes, it still feels so contrived, now even more so that I know the real story. Why are these kids all so young looking, and how come Ricky is with his mom so much? I think this creative retelling took too many liberties in trying to make Ricky look as innocent as possible. It's very overrated here. Just watch The Acid King documentary instead.

I just saw an advance version of Ricky 6, and I must say that I am COMPLETELY impressed by what I've seen. This is one of the strongest films about teenage tragedy that's been around since River's Edge, and the performances all around are devastatingly powerful and beautifully crafted. Peter Filardi has done a superlative job with his first feature as writer-director, and the hallucination sequences are some of the most creative and dreamy I've seen in a mainstream movie for some time. The cinematography also captures the essence of small town angst amazingly, with bold colour schemes and creative camera tricks. The New Brunswick locations give a desolate and painful touch to what will undoubtedly be a film that will be tough to ignore. It is based on a true story, but the film takes a more lyrical approach to the hard facts, ending in a shot that had my jaw on the ground. Needless to say, I loved it. Great music from Joe Delia, who did many scores for Abel Ferrara as well. The current popularity of Boys Don't Cry might help people notice this one, which is easily an equal to that film's quality, if not better.

I saw this film at a distributor's screening in LA quite some time ago. Something about it left an indelible impression upon me. Perhaps it's because it feels so real ... too real. In short, Ricky 6 chronicles Ricky's downward spiral into drugs and satanism (-5pts for spelling). Depressing subject matter. But, the acting was very good ... Chad Christ gives a particularly good performance. I hope to see him in more films in the future.