Rid of Me

I can be a bit squeamish about this or that, so the first 10 minutes or so of this film made me wonder what I was getting into, but I was soon deeply involved in poor Maris' sheltered life. It is a journey and I loved watching every darkly funny moment of it. Yes, the film is low- budget but the writing - the three acts, the dramatic arc - is all there. There is actually falling action and a full resolution after the horrifying climax. I was giggling at Maris, sad for Maris, laughing with Maris, cheering for Maris, fearing for Maris...and I won't spoil the ending, which I loved. I also loved her sugar-addicted friend. Please take this film to be very much like the very early days of independent film, where locals could be found in the background and local artists made cameos. If you liked "Scumrock" or other films like that, then you'll like this film.

Honestly, I'm troubled by the poor reviews of this film because I think it handles the very important subject of how we treat people who don't fall in what we consider the mainstream - from women, to artists, to people of color. Perhaps it takes on some parts of this subject on more than others, but it's only one movie. I also really liked some of the humor with ominous sound, when cutting to shots that showed the small town/pre-fab housing tableaux, for example. Lots of fun moments in this film.

Again, I do not understand why people are giving this film a bad review. As someone who is a life-long film watcher (films from all over the world, both big and small budget) and as someone with many friends who work in film, I see this film as nothing but a success. Perhaps the people reviewing the work have some other motives in mind.

The opening scene, as is mentioned in many reviews, is not the "hook" they intended, and you might click your Roku back to Menu, but give it a chance and this film will break your heart. It's so real and true, I've met all these people, I've even been some of them. The directing is subtle and jumps around like a mosaic, but I got it. And the awkwardness is well done. This is a terrible comparison, but think of the silent, awkward moments in The Office. Instead of being funny, these situations are so cruel but so real and familiar that you believe them. We've all encountered these things at some point, but here, no one steps in for the downtrodden protagonist. She's left out in the cold over and over again. It's one of those films you stay with until the end of the credits.

You know what usually happens when you watch an indie movie with divided 1 star/5 star reviews on netflix... 90% of the time you watch it, it's a solid 2 star (rarely a 3) out of 5 and you don't even think about it again. The rest of the time it's something "interesting" - not necessarily great. Last night we watched "Rid of Me" a 2011 indie movie. I can't stop thinking about it all last night and today.

It totally touched me (mostly by creeping me out). The film is about Meris, a socially awkward, shy young woman who is in love and moves with her all American jock boy type husband to his home town in Oregon where a group of his frat bro buddies and their wives await. The friends are annoying and crass, and she has some mental conditions (depression, social anxiety). Things don't go well in terms of Meris fitting in. When an old flame of the husband moves back to town, the marriage is soon on the rocks. She goes through some difficult stuff and then the movie is about "finding yourself". Cheap movie and production is pretty bad and throughout the first half at least I felt incredibly uncomfortable, but this is the intention and possibly even the point of the film.

First it was interesting that the movie was about a woman and her journey. This woman was not presented as classically attractive, nor is she the life of the party by any means. It's rare to have this kind of character focused on. At the same time, the focus on this character is what makes the movie both uncomfortable and poignant.

Personally, I could not relate to the title character, the meek Meris. How can someone be so hapless and direction-less? It seemed she had no autonomy as she was being carried into further and further horrific situations that gave her no respite from herself or from the mean people she dealt with. I realise she was not meant to be a realistic character but the way the film is shot you are following her all the time and you feel like shaking her up throughout the first half of the movie. Meris, how can you not protect yourself from going to those places? Don't you grow a backbone girl?? I just found my mind in a logical bind that a person would let themselves get into situations like that. Perhaps I am forgetting how you can be so naive when you're in stupid young love and at that point in life when you have not yet understood that people are weak and disappointing and you should always protect your back.

And the backbone, she does indeed grow in her own way and with a lot of mess on the way, as we all do - well maybe a bit messier than average. We see Meris develop all the way to the act of extreme defiance she carries out in the opening scene of the movie, which where she walks up to a plastic blonde woman in a supermarket and does something shocking and defiant. (Side note: This act is probably one that is extremely feminine in some ways, but it struck me as a very male scene to write - I don't know if I am going to be able to explain this, it's just a subtle thing, almost like a man envisioned what Meris would do).

The finding yourself part, the main theme of the film, is not all blood. There is comic relief, plus some high school regression, friendship, 90s style girl power, smoking, aging goth characters ; and all that stuff works in the end and you have weird friends and you laugh and you learn to accept yourself and not to let a man have control over who you can and cannot be.

I find it a hard movie to recommend in an unqualified way because the movie is uncomfortable but if you want to try something different, it's worth checking this out.

This is bound to become a cult hit! At first, it does warn you in a small way that it is going to be dark but when that first awkward moment comes, it is a bit of a shocker.

Then as the movies moves along, you realize that there is a part of you and probably everyone that has been in the protagonist's position of feeling uncomfortable when you realize the person you love is now presenting themselves through the friends they have and the yoke is NOT even.

I will probably watch this flick more than 3 or 4 times as I can already tell that it has a charm, though awkward, that keeps one drawn to seeing it more than once.

Advertised as a black comedy, and that's all, "Rid of Me" suggests that there is an event or plot twist that should not be revealed. And indeed it does open with an obscene, aberrant action which most people have the little bit of self-restraint required to never perform such an act. Following that opening sequence, the film reveals two subtle twists which show how unique and independent this is.

After the first scene, our sympathies are forced to suddenly and dramatically shift. That's because they make you realize that we all make character judgements before we even get to know the character. I thought that was very brilliant and kept me watching. Secondly, Meris (Katie O'Grady) is like a normal person and has experienced the same sort of life events that others have. What makes this unique is that we see her thought processes as she tries to balance what has happened with what is "fair" — you know, that pesky thing that kids are taught what life is.

Meris suffers from depression. She tries to be happy, she tries to make friends, but that's hard especially for someone who suffers from depression. "Rid of Me" is a character study fused with dark comedy elements. With everything that she goes through, life finds a way of getting worse for her. But the film managed this by interspersing comic relief with the depression, but also finding new actions and new consequences for her to experience.

The production design is bleak, but that fits with the bleakness of Meris' situation and the low budget they had to work with. I was so intrigued by where they were going with Meris' character that I wasn't distracted by any of the off-putting elements of the film. I'm usually not a fan of jumpy filming and editing, and while I still didn't like it here, at least they used it in relevant places. Some of the supporting acting was weak and lessened the impact of at least one scene in particular.

But this film is not about the supporting actors or characters. This film is about Meris and Katie O'Grady. To me the character of Meris was a revelation —that's how you write depressing character studies. And O'Grady put her all into this character. I loved how you could see Meris change and stay true to herself all at the same time within her eyes.

Some people probably aren't willing to have someone like Meris as a movie heroine, but it was one of the first times I could connect to a depressed woman and have hope for realistic optimism. "Rid of Me" is minimal, bleak and off-putting, but it's also a unique, original dark comedy character study.