FILM REVIEW: BUZZARD By: Faiz No comments

Marty (Joshua Burge) in Buzzard.

Desperate but not serious

By Don Simpson

 

Marty Jackitansky (Joshua Burge) — he’s a “White Russian,” not Polish — is an angry young man. He mostly seems bitter about having to toil away his weekdays as a temp at a bank, though one might surmise that Marty would rather not have to work at all. Marty seems just barely cognizant enough about the economic system to find ways to scrounge together enough money each month to perpetuate his own existence. As a temp, Marty earns a pathetic hourly wage with no benefits, so he partakes in petty scams to make some extra dough — more like chump change.

 

Sticking it to the man, Marty orders office supplies online at work then returns them to the store for cash; he also closes his bank account in order to open a new one and collect the $50 incentive that comes along with it.

 

One day, a fateful stack of returned checks on his desk proves to be far too tempting for Marty, especially when he learns that checks can be signed over to another party. Not surprisingly, Marty does not think the check fraud plan completely through; he ends up on the lam in his friend’s (writer-director Joel Potrykus) basement. Armed with a taste for rebellion and a self-made Freddy Krueger glove, Marty finally escapes the bland conformity of the banking industry; but the perpetual weight of economic pressure finally gets too much for Marty, so he begins to lash out like a financially disgruntled nightmare.

 

Like Ape, Potrykus’ previous feature, Buzzard rails against conformity and capitalism. The economy is the ever-present villain of both films — no matter how much Marty or Ape‘s Trevor try to rebel against the system, they cannot defeat capitalism. Frustrated with the constant struggle, they turn to violence and presumably self-destruction.

 

The gritty cinematic worlds created by Potrykus are difficult for slackers to survive within, presumably because of their inherent laziness, ambivalence and naive expectations of the modern world. Neither of them are all that likable — they are quintessential fuck-ups — but it is difficult not to feel a tad bit sorry for Marty and Trevor as they burn, scavenge and claw for a right to exist; you might even go as far as saying that they are presented as martyrs for the non-conformists of the world.

FILM REVIEW: DARK HORSE By: Faiz No comments

Miranda (Selma Blair) and Abe (Jordan Gelber) in Dark Horse.

The soul of Solodnz's Miranda

By Don Simpson

Abe (Jordan Gelber) is essentially all of Hollywood's stereotypes of losers rolled into one: overweight, balding, collector of action figures, 35-years-old and resides with his parents (Mia Farrow and Christopher Walken), works for his father (but seems utterly incapable of actually doing any work), drives a yellow Hummer, and listens to nothing but cheesy bubblegum pop. He is an overgrown brat who is prone to lashing out at everyone around him and blaming his family for his arrested development.

As you can probably guess, Abe's social skills are also lacking. This is showcased during the opening sequence in which Abe attempts to get a phone number from the quietly morose woman -- Miranda (Selma Blair) -- who is helplessly seated next to him at a wedding. Abe knows no boundaries and Miranda is ill-equipped to deal with a man who cannot take a hint. Nonetheless, Abe pries each digit from Miranda as if he is yanking her teeth out one by one with his fingers.

Writer-director Todd Solondz has an inherent knack for uncomfortable situations, and he attacks the opening sequence like the somewhat seasoned veteran that he is. Unfortunately, Solondz quickly becomes stuck in a quagmire of having nothing else to do with these two losers. So what would have been an inspired short film is stretched into a lazy portrayal of one-dimensional caricatures with limited personality traits that play in an endless loop for Dark Horse's 86-minute running time. Abe alternates between throwing childish tantrums and confusing lucid dreams with reality, while Miranda remains expressionless and emotionless. (It is a "joke" that she is so incredibly dull that she names her dog, Dog.)

In a way, Dark Horse is a lot like Miranda. The film has absolutely nothing to say or do. The narrative just stands there, blankly staring at us like Dora (the Explorer) awaiting our response. But what are we supposed to respond to? For better or worse (mostly worse), it seems as though Solondz no longer feels the desire to shock us; instead he just tries to bore us into a hypnotized state of mind-numbing submission. Then, once Abe starts slipping into ridiculous fits of fantasy, Dark Horse dissolves into complete nonsense.