Runtime: 92 minutes
Directed by: Andrew Bujalski
Starring: Kriss Schuldermann, Tom Fletcher, Wiley Wiggins, Kevin Bewersdorf, Patrick Reister
From: It was put out by Kino Lorber
Here's something quite out of the usual for me. It is a film I heard about on Letterboxd last year and while I understood it was strange I still wanted to see it. I finally got to it so I could take it out of my queue. It is allegedly a comedy but the funniest thing was seeing someone who was a background character and he basically was a huskier version of a pal of mine. The Letterboxd review is below and I'll return tomorrow night.
I already know this won't be a popular review among many who read this; no offense to those people I follow who have seen this and loved it; me, I thought it was pretentious wanking and awkward surrealist avant-garde crap! But let me explain myself...
I recently got a Netflix gift card from a Gamestop (I did not know those cards were even a thing) so I now have Instant for the next few months. I usually just get it for a random month at a time a few months a year. I decided to be different and watch this, something that was in my queue since last year, mainly because I heard about it here on Letterboxd and it just sounded like an odd premise so I'd give it a shot, even though I hadn't seen any of the director's other works; hell, I haven't seen any mumblecore movies period. Judging by this and what I understand them to be, maybe they just aren't for me.
That said, let me explain that I would have much rather this be a straight-up black and white mockumentary set in (apparently; I just got the vibe it was early 80's) 1980 about several teams which converge and do battle with their chess computer programs, where the program tells the player which move to make and the most successful program wins, and then does battle with the A-hole who runs things, an alleged chess Grandmaster. Esoteric, for sure. Then again, the movie as is has too many A-hole characters; also, I would have preferred it be filmed better and not have such things as totally unrealistic and too long reaction shots.
But, my biggest issue is that this actually is about “big concepts”, throwing random unusualness at the screen and spewing existentialist crap... you see surreal touches throughout and it becomes more prominent the further you get in the plot and by the end I just thought it was all inane, not to mention tedious.
It doesn't mean anything-at least not to me-and like I just it's just pretentious twaddle by someone who comes across as not as smart as they'd like to be. Nothing gets explained but then again the movie introduces many plot threads and most have no hint of resolution so it really isn't a surprise. I was just frustrated with how aggressively douchey and “try way too hard” the end product was and the denouement was a whole lot of bollocks. In addition, I wish this was actually being funny and not thinking that just being quirky, surrealistic and strange is gut-busting hilarious.
Again, I wish this would have been a mockumentary-filmed by someone better-with some awkward nerds and how they dealt with various normal events, not crap involving cats or unrealistic spiritual groups. At least it did look like something from the early 80's and the cast of mainly non-actors did seem authentic in being gawky and ungainly.
I have no ill will towards those that love this. I am pretty atypical in general myself (not as bad as those in this movie, or at least that's what I choose to believe) and many times before I do not get what is “the popular opinion”. It's nice that this is different and not the norm and there are people who dig it. I just thought it ended up being pointless in the end & I don't comprehend the praise, that's all.
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