Bass Ackwards

I had to add my few impressions just to get the average review feeling for this film up closer to the score it really deserves. Beautiful photography and deliciously fitting music give the road trip a genuine convincing real emotional satisfying impact. I wasn't looking for plot, so didn't miss there not being one. The film makers here know how a film depends on feelings evoked by imagery and believably suspenseful drama. How you can get that without plot is how this movie works. That a feeble little VW micro-bus can get so much mileage with so little power is the impressive surprise. Yep, lotsa higher-powered vehicles pass it by, or find it's in their way. But Linas keeps on driving along and we get somewhere pretty satisfying eventually.

Saw Bass Ackwards this weekend at the Waterfront Film Festival, but ended up leaving about 15 minutes before the movie was done due to boredom. I watch a lot of films and this is the first time I've walked out early.

There were way too many scenes of the Vw Microbus getting passed by semi-trucks on the highway. It was funny for the first few times and then just became insulting. I think a three year old would have understood the point that it was a slow and frustrating vehicle well before using the same gag about 10 or 15 times.

There were a couple entertaining moments he had with the service station guy "no speak English" and Linas' Christopher Walken impersonation.

Bass Ackwards is a film that as of right now seems to be going under everybody's radar. I found it by chance while researching released films from this year that I have not yet seen, and man, am I glad I found it. At times it reminded me of Last year's Wendy and Lucy, but without the added drama I found came along with that film. Other times it reminded me of Sean Penn's Into the Wild as the story follows one man on the road always searching with an open heart.

What this film has however, that both these other excellent films do not is a soul that Hollywood rarely touches upon and an acutely fitted soundtrack reminiscent of Neil Young's score to Dead Man. All these things, plus a foreign language Christopher Walken impression make this little gem of a film shine like a newly unearthed diamond

I also related to the movie, have wanted to see it ever since Sundance, and YouTube's pay release window. I found it easy to get into the rhythm of the film. I liked the sweetness of it, that it took its time, and that it had none of the smugness and self-consciousness hipness of many indie, and most studio, films. I had the same reaction to it as I did to sex, lies and videotape 20 years ago, feeling like this was a film that was again pushing the boundaries of film-making, pushing the margins to more authenticity, naturalism, etc. It's similar, but different than other indie or road films. It feels post-slacker, post- irony, post hollow-culture-formula-action movies, post-judgmental us- against-them contemporary stuff. It also redefined hetero men as I find them today, less afraid to be sensitive, unclear about what roles are today, not as phonily macho and cool as portrayed in Hollywood films. I know more people like Linas than I do leading men in mainstream films. That probably goes for the characters he meets on the road, somewhat more like people in LA, than those who inhabit studio films. The film was somewhat lacking in plot, and I was slightly itchy, but only slightly. Mostly I fell into the rhythm of the film, happy to be with Linas on his road adventure, as he experienced himself and his solitaryness in a way that was quite relatable for all of us.

It's interesting to wonder what a movie actually is supposed to mean so we only have our own perspective to rely on...

With this movie I immediately fell in love with the cinematography. It's got a real life quality mixed with a dash of art to really make me feel connected to whats happening.

I feel like the main character a lot in my personal life, not to sound over the top melancholy or anything. I just relate to the social interactions with people, the awkwardness of it all. The self amusement and the way we see the world when we are by ourselves.

Life is tough and this movie keeps it real and relative, props to the crew, I feel big things coming for them in the future.

Sorry if this is a pointless review, it's my first one... :)