Four Eyed Monsters

Four Eyed Monsters follows the relationship of a shy, reclusive videographer and an equally estranged struggling artist, who, both living in the Big Apple, develop an unlikely romance with the help of an internet dating site. This in itself is not so unusual, but what is, is their method of communication. Foregoing the verbal, they take to writing notes and later communicating through video.

The film is based upon the creator's (Arin Crumley & Susan Buice) own relationship, who besides writing and directing, take to acting as the lead characters as well. With elements of avant-garde, anti-plot, and docudrama, the film scatters itself to the wind with an undecided structure nestled neatly between narcissism and self-indulgence.

As the movie wears on, a brief separation and deterioration of their once intriguing form of communication grow old as the couple face the hardship of reality. Focusing solely on inner conflict, or the woes of relationship, the film struggles through a stagnant narrative that is neither original, nor poignant. This could have been easily circumvented with the addition of subplot and external conflict, and a third act, to which there is none - just a montage of melodrama that leads nowhere.

What is even more aggravating is the film's descent from story into reality that abruptly concludes with an open ended and unsatisfying finish. This would have been all fine and dandy, but there is no question asked and no meaning to be discovered or pondered.

(On a side note, the film contains beautiful animation and a vivid and moving soundtrack, one of the more interesting aspects of the production.)

But as always, watch the film and decide for yourself.

I caught this film at the Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck, Michigan. Going into the film, I really knew nothing about it, but I felt I owed it to the filmmakers to go see it, since they interviewed me, a struggling college student, the day before. Well, I'm glad I saw it.

Four Eyed Monsters, Directed (along with a lot of other things) by Arin Crumley and Susan Buice is an experimental film that works on a lot of levels. It's about a couple that meet on an internet dating service and decide to continue their relationship using only artistic mediums so they don't fall into the trap of a traditional mundane relationship. Throughout the film they communicate through notepads, emails, video letters, and other things.

Watching the film I thought a lot of it was based on their own history together (and the filmmakers confirmed this, though I don't know how much). I really enjoyed the style of the film, they tried new things and experimented with different shots and things, sometimes it didn't work but a lot of the time it did.

I won't lie, I'm a dedicated festival goer, throughout the weekend I didn't get much sleep because I watched movies all day, and Four Eyed Monsters was one of the last movies I saw, so unfortunately their were moments I struggled to stay awake (not because the film wasn't good). The ending seemed a little out of place to me, and the directors mentioned that they continue to tinker with the film throughout the festival circuit, so it would be interesting to see what previous versions of the film are like.

So, to sum it up, I'm sure people that only go to mainstream films in theatres with huge budgets and huge stars won't appreciate this film. But anyone that knows what independent films are like should check this movie out if they can. It's a helpful film for aspiring filmmakers, and I congratulate Susan and Arin for that, and I'd love to see what they're working on in the future.

I liked this film fine, but I think I like their web episodes a lot better than the actual movie.

Maybe that speaks to short form content in the digital age; the movie itself is obviously building towards an ending, a payoff that was sort of a let down, where-as the web content had it's own loose narrative structure that lent itself more to their type of story.

Either way, I think the way they released and marketed it was genius.

I wish more independent films had the guts to go straight to their fans. I live in LA, and there's 100 new movies playing every weekend, yet I can never find a truly independent film unless I order it on Netflix. And that means I have to wait for months after hearing about it. I lose interest, and then when it comes, it sits on my microwave for a week before I get around to watching it.

Filmmakers should premiere at a festival, and then launch DVD, download, and theatrical screenings the following weekend.

I saw this film this year at the 2005 Slamdance film festival, in Park City Utah. Four-Eyed Monsters was a very enjoyable movie. This is a unique film about the relationship between 2 people and their coming together and what develops between them and it's so quirky and different that this slice of life narrative feature works, and it works well. With some introspective comments from both of our main characters as well as random interviews from strangers about relationships, love and sex. Done in way that you lean to understand what is going on inside the heads of our couple, and compliments the overall story. This is a digital film shot beautifully and has some creative edits, uses of animation, time lapse photography, and other techniques which gave this film the feeling that your are seeing something truly different and experimental. And has some amazing and dare I say original ideas within it, the ending left me speechless and makes the entire journey that much more entertaining. I highly recommend watching this film, you will not be disappointed.

I managed to watch Fourteen minutes deep into this movie.

First and foremost...

I had a hard time distinguishing the ugly androgynous girl and boy.

Just because you slap a bunch of Lousy video clips together does not make it art. Probably somebody out there has no taste and will like this garbage, and for whatever reason manage to watch it longer than I have.

Taking a dump and eating a bagel was a lot more exciting than this movie.

I don't know how this movie ended up in my stack of bootlegs.

but..

IT SUCKED HARD.