Bug

I really don't know what to make of Bug, William Friedkin's bizarre tale of either delusional paranoia OR a sinister government plot to control the masses through the use of genetically engineered parasitic insects: it's certainly one of the strangest and most perplexing films I've seen in recent years, Friedkin messing with his viewers' heads so that they become as unsure about what is reality as the central characters. It was certainly a far cry from what I would call 'enjoyable', particularly when viewed as a study of mental illness ('harrowing' would be a better description), and the film's pacing is tortuously slow at times. 'Interesting' is a better descriptor...

Solid performances aside, where Bug scores most points in my eyes is in never resolving its many questions, leaving the viewer to pore over what has happened, dissect the evidence, and come to their own conclusion about what they have just witnessed. Although it seems probable that Peter and Agnes were seriously messed in the head and imagining the whole infestation, one cannot say this with absolute certainty; besides, sometimes its more fun to simply believe the less likely explanation.

The loser and lonely waitress Agnes (Ashley Judd) lives in a cheap motel in Okalahoma grieving the disappearance of her beloved son Lloyd ten years ago. Her abusive ex-husband Jerry Goss (Harry Connick Jr.) has just left prison on probation and is insistently calling her. When her colleague and only friend, the lesbian RC (Lynn Collins), brings her drifter acquaintance Peter Evans (Michael Shannon) to visit her, they have an affair and Peter stays with Agnes in her room. Peter finds bugs in their bed, and discloses to Agnes that he was a soldier in the Gulf War submitted to experiments by the army and presently he is infested with bugs. Agnes feels the same symptoms and the couple believes in Peter's conspiracy theory of the American government.

"Bug" is a weird low-budget movie, set practically in one location, about paranoia and schizophrenia. The unpleasant story is very well acted, and Ashley Judd surprised me with a great interpretation of a lonely woman with a tragedy behind that feels attracted by a gentle man with delusional paranoia and schizophrenia tendency brilliantly performed by Michael Shannon. This movie is not bad, but it is absolutely predictable; I was disappointed since I expected a surprising twist in the end that never happens. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Possuídos" ("Possessed")

I'll just come out and say it – I love this movie. But is it a movie? I can't really answer that. Honestly, this doesn't really feel or play out like a movie but maybe that's just me. Keep a few things in mind: this is based on a stage play, the screenplay was written by the author of the play, Friedkin is a big fan of the play, and the lead (Michael Shannon) is from the original production of the stage play. Got that? Good. You know how they say Sam Mendes brings "theater" to the "big screen" (and I say F that) - well, BUG is how theater should exist on film. I don't know, maybe I'm over analyzing. But while I'm over analyzing I'll throw this out there - Michael Shannon gives one of the best performances I've seen in a long time. And screw it - Ashley Judd really surprised me in this too. Harry Connick Jr. is a little dead weight but you can't win 'em all Harry. Mix some old Cronenberg with a pinch of Lynch (can I coin that?), throw it on an Off Broadway stage and see what sticks, then have Friedkin direct it and you've got BUG.

Bug is William Friedkin's offering and now the aged director may have lessened his output flow, but there's no denying that he still chooses interesting projects: Bug is as further from the mainstream as one can get. There's no doubt that Bug is intense. It's a fairly nightmarish experience, complete with a scene of self-administered dental care that squeamish viewers will not be able to endure. Yet, for all that the movie is harrowing, it's not entirely successful. After a well-constructed first act, the story becomes a little tiresome and repetitive and the characters, who are will defined to begin with, stray ever closer to the edge of overwrought one-dimensionality. There's something to be said for a movie that is this far from the mainstream; it is not uninteresting. Calling Bug a "horror" film may be misleading. Although the movie includes some of the trapping's genre fans would expect, it's more of a psychological drama.

I've never been a Friedkin fan and I can live without an "Exorcist" DVD.

"Bug" depicts another kind of possession ,and it shows paranoia as few other movies did (Polanski did it in "the tenant " in 1976).The performances are great ;Ashley Judd plays a part few of her peers would dare: she is matched every step of the way by Michael Shannon .Both,towards the end,reach the extreme limit and their shouting voices are hardly intelligible.From the very start,Judd seems jaded,tired of the world,with no reason to live .

Even when you feel safe,you know there's an impending menace ;today we live in a world where nobody can say "it won't happen to me" .The Army experiments (a subject which was already broached in the brilliant "Jacob's ladder" ) are only an alibi ,and anyway,are they real?We see danger where there isn't any and we swallow a pill to soothe our fears .One blip (here a tiny bug) is enough to bring everything grinding to the halt... or to trigger madness ,a madness which will know no bounds .