K-11

The only way I can safely describe this movie is: Very peculiar.

... It would've been nice to see a real transgender actress on screen.

I will write a review but what we have here is an amazingly American "pile on" by the press. What I realize after having seen K-11 is that virtually none of the critics who gave this film zero stars even saw it. If you see the term "CAMP" or "EXPLOITATION" or here them claiming "it couldn't decide what it was" you know that those critic's wrote a review on the trailer and not the film. This film has one problem only to them , Jules Stewart is Kristen Stewart's Mom . They cant get to Kristen so they attack Jules. They attack her even after Kristen was intentionally NOT cast in K-11 http://gawker.com/5990662/kristen-stewarts-mom-wanted- her-to-play-a-character-thats-raped-repeatedly. Interviewers will start asking about the film and then turn to Kristen , helpless in their own lack of imagination and drawn finally to a personality that blinds them to everything around them. Years from now when Kristen is no longer a young star people will re-examine this film. Kristen is not even in this film , intentionally. The press lie, that is what they do.

K-11 is a straight film, not exploitation or camp. Portia Doubleday ,Goran Visnjic , DB Sweeny and most of all, Kate del Castillo, are brilliant. So what has the critics babbling ? They can't put it in a box. They use the term "its like " because they need something to compare it to. Its a great little film that you should compare to every great directors first films because it is vastly superior to Canmeron's "Piranha Part Two: The Spawning" ! Its an incredibly good first film. Making a film of this kind for a first time director is virtually impossible because everyone "knows better". Jules stuck to her guns, finally taking the film back from her first editor and recutting it to the original script. The films most memorable quote "Bad things happen to bad people" . If that were true a few critics here would spontaneously burst into flame. This is a great little film that stands on its own and the cast and crew did a terrific job.

I had super low expectations going into this film, but I surprisingly liked it.

The characters feel very real and damaged. Raymond Saxx Jr.'s plight is uncomfortable and unfortunate for him.

D.B. Sweeney is solid as the waste of space Lt. Gerald Johnson. Goran Visnjic gives a sympathetic portrayal of record producer Saxx who got too deep into drugs.

Kate Del Castillo as Mousey is not bad. She has flashes of brilliance as the trans-gender. Portia Doubleday is unnerving and heartbreaking as Butterfly.

Obviously, the film is low-budget, but I'm confused why the critics trashed it like they did. I bet some of them never bothered to watch the film. Although, this is not the type of film critics would love. It's not an amazing film, but it's hardly exploitative...so take it for what it is. I enjoyed the ending and I would watch it again if I saw it television. An interesting directorial debut for indie director Jules Stewart.

I heard about this film and looked it up. The premise seemed fascinating and the first thing that came to mind is "I must watch this". Anticipating, from the visuals and advertising, this film would be a trippy ride through prison lane. Unfortunately as soon as I started watching, I got the sense of a very sanitized film with actors who I am sure had lots of terms and conditions imposed on the filmmakers prior to diving into making the film. In one word, the film just does not seem authentic. A simple a word as that maybe, it is the lifeblood of films of this type. If you are going to go through the troubles of doing a prison drama, get in there and get your feet wet. The actors skimped on all situations. Not sure if the script was written like that or what happened between the production and final cut. Whatever may have happened in the process, it is obvious many things got chopped and with them the fear and tension that this sort of situation brings about for any straight attorney who would have been wrongly classified in a prison system. The girl that the attorney meets at the beginning is so obviously female, she was miscast in the first place. Nowhere did her performance remotely resemble that of someone who may have been previously male. If you are going to do something like this.. go all the way. Get the real thing. You would never see obviously real women in a K-11 section and that is what spoiled it for me. Sometimes playing it safe can inhibit your film from all of the wonderful possibilities that could have been effective if more time and effort was placed in finding actors who could accurately portray a grim situation successfully in a rather dark place. My suspension of disbelieve got interrupted several times and at every attempt I made to try to immerse myself in the reality of what should have been a very dark, disturbing, spine tingling situation for the viewer. In other words I expected something around the realm of "OZ" the very successful cable series that did exemplify the tensions and fears that prison life entail. Sad to say, I felt instead of OZ I got something along the lines of "the wizard of OZ" version sprinkled with mild to light tension. Unfortunately, this was a missed opportunity.