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Lawlor and Manning bring an unrestrained, offhanded charm to their roles, which makes much of their interaction feel refreshingly improvised. Both their giddy happiness and wrenching emotional moments are played out with strikingly honesty, which makes both of them likeable even when they do messy things. Around them, each of the supporting characters is considerably more cartoonish. Cassell's Jim is downright clownish, while Pifko's Simon is at least engagingly pathetic, abusing drugs to deal his own daddy issues.

There's an interesting exploration of love and sexuality here, as Maya struggles to come to terms with Jasmine's pansexual, polyamorous lifestyle. The climactic moment in the plot brings more than a little melodramatic craziness with it, as each of the secretive story strands finally comes out into the open, creating an entertaining knotted mess. So even if it becomes increasingly difficult to click into the story on an emotional level, the film holds the attention. And it marks Cash, Lawlor and Manning as talents to keep an eye on.

themes, language, sexuality

29.Apr.19

Dafoe is always terrific in these kinds of enigmatic, offbeat dramas, taking the audience on an internalised journey that feels momentous even if its indefinable. Paul is an enigmatic figure, playful in the way he speaks with people, revealing himself despite his attempts to obscure things about his life. The other strong role is Almeida's Daniel, a filmmaker who like Paul is unsure how to finish both this immediate project and indeed his life's work. And each of the side figures brings an intriguing quirk of personality into the overall picture.

Graham's approach here may feel oddly elusive, swirling around between scenes without anchoring elements into a firm narrative. For example, the prologue and coda feel like they come from another film. But there's a raw, emotional truth running through every moment, carrying an open-minded viewer deep into ideas about invention and purpose, grappling with the power of both creating and experiencing art. It's also questioning the inexplicable world we live in, with its surprises and distractions, plus sideroads that might lead us somewhere important.

themes, language

12.Jul.19

Casey plays the only normal person in the movie, and manages to layer the role with some nice touches as a man who regrets his irresponsible actions. On the other hand, no actor could convincingly play Mark's obliviousness. And Ian's bizarrely arch behaviour similarly defeats Marosa. Proudfoot is mildly more convincing as the vacuous party-boy Stevie. Meanwhile, the interchangeable women do a lot of posing and glowering, while the local village folk just look like nervous hamsters.

When things finally cut loose into full on horror, the low-budget gore effects are gleefully nasty, splattering bright red blood and random body parts everywhere. Some solid makeup and a couple of well-placed digital gags add to the craziness. There's definitely a sense that the filmmakers have stretched out this material into a short feature using random montages and long stretches in which nothing much happens. But the idea is strong enough to hold the attention, even if only one character has a tenuous connection with the audience.

themes, language, violence, drugs

1.Aug.19