A Dionysian Affair

I saw this movie while I was in New York a while ago, and just found it here. It deserves a better rating, but I can see why some people don't like it. The main problem is that the director and screenwriter assume that everyone knows all about Deleuze, and if you don't the movie doesn't make much sense. Deleuze argues that schizophrenia is caused by capitalism, which is inherently schizophrenic. But you can't just attack capitalism (like Marxists do), because then you're still defined by capitalism, and you'll end up just as schizophrenic (or maybe worse, because you're now fighting two battles at once). That's why there's that line about no Marxist BS; the main character thinks he's fighting WalMart but really he's still trapped by capitalism.

Clearly there was some thought put into the filming. The camera virtually never moves while the main character is talking (minor shifts, that's all), which symbolizes his being trapped, but also suggests that the viewer is just as trapped, since it occupies the omniscient space of the viewer. There are several bits that are filmed in a fragmented jumpy way, symbolizing the disintegration of the main character's life. The main conversation takes place in a theatre, symbolizing the fact that we're all constantly on view. A lot of life in a capitalist society is taken up with "marketing yourself," like you are a piece of meat. We're all used to watching other people's crises without becoming involved (have you ever walked past a homeless person without even wondering why they're there?), so this film is commenting on that by making us watch a crisis and reminding us through its staging that for most people in a capitalist society other people's problems are simply something to be used as entertainment (think of all those talk show where people reveal all sorts of terrible things about themselves or their lives and the audience eats it up).

This isn't a great film, even for a first effort, but it doesn't suck either. The quality of the acting, always dodgy in indie films anyway, is very uneven, and there are continuity problems (besides the ones probably meant to suggest shifting reality, I mean). The music's kind of repetitive and dull, and the sound levels were all over the map, at least when I saw it. But it's trying to say something interesting, and saying it in a way that's relevant to the message, so it's already better than a lot of technically more flashy productions. I hope this director doesn't get discouraged. I'd be interested to see another film from him.

This 'film' is an utter travesty and really doesn't merit what little praise it has received. I personally have done my research on the cast and crew of this film. They are all mostly graphic designers with little to no experience in film production. This is extremely evident in the execution of this film in almost every aspect.

Not only is their training in film-making sub par, it is almost as if the crew never had any at all. Speaking from a professionals standpoint, they would have benefited greatly from an experienced (or at least trained) producer's help on this project. This would have helped their terrible lighting scheme in just about every scene as well as the truly boring and non-metaphorical camera-work, which was simple tripod execution. Their editing could have been handled with something more pleasant than hard-cuts, not to mention the lack of attention to details such as continuity or even timing. The direction itself was completed in a hurried manner and shows in both the shot choices and attempt at a stylistic approach gone off the edge. Jump cuts riddle this piece as well as sound spikes to make you plug your ears as well as lean closer to hear what was said.

On a positive note (one of the few), the writer of this film was onto something. It is obvious his philosophies were geared toward a specific belief and theme. His execution of these themes, however, was not cinematic at all. In fact, he simply wrote down some theories that were filmed into what i'm sure was an attempt at a Waking Life type result. The problem is that their inexperience decreased this script's credibility and put it on the back burner. The lines were delivered sub par at best, while extras constantly break reality by staring at the camera in constant shots.

To put it bluntly, this film was accepted into a festival as a writing submission, nothing more. The New York Film Festival is more than aware that what was created had no business being shown, but more being heard. Had the director and crew had any experience or even a larger budget, we would have perhaps seen the potential for a promising follow up project. However, I'm sure the filmmakers have sullied back to their graphic design status, as they should have in the first place.

So here is an example of people who have never made a film before, and their attempt at breaking into a genre they know nothing technically about. Now I will start by granting this short video a small credit, the writing is something to be desired in many shorts, and this one has that writing most short films need to be successful. But that is where the success stops...

Just to name a few short comings, how about film making basics. It is plain to see that the creators of this have never taken a film class or even picked up a book on camera-work, directing, art direction, location scouting, editing, and possibly the most essential task of casting actual actors. Their inexperience shows through the lackluster directorial choices, bland performances from the obvious 'group of friends' actors, and the obvious disregard for any sort of camera and lighting scheme.

Had a producer jumped on board that had the slightest knowledge of short film making, this would have benefited and possibly even won the New York Film Festival it was confusingly accepted to. Though I highly doubt the college students that made this film would have liked their "art" to be touched by an actual film maker, this might have been their intention.

This was truly an "affair" to try and understand, much less finish watching without a yawn and a blank stare.