There are a few bits and pieces that this project requires for it to be completed, there are 2 "experimental film" reviews, one of which had to be from the international film festival which is a bit difficult as the film festival films aren't all that experimental. Nevertheless I've watched one film festival film and one experimental film and they will be documented in this blog post.

I really wish I'd had time to alter my submission after the critique it had at the presentation (that it tried to fit too much in) but I'm happy enough with it that it was lower priority than other tasks I had to complete. Righty, first film review.

The Room

Some people get enjoyment out of awful things. I have a friend who liked to watch terrible movies for the humour. I'm not one of those people, watching terrible movies makes me think about the finite amount of time we have on earth and how it could be better spent elsewhere. The Room (2003), written, directed and featuring Tommy Wiseau is an awful film that has gained cult status because it is so terrible. I decided to watch this film because I'd read on a local forum about just how amusing it was. I' down with watching a comedy I thought. Well it turned out it was funny because it was awful. I persevered only for the sake of the film review. So what makes this film so terrible? The script, the acting, the direction the props the dialogue... And it appears that it was made is all seriousness, although Wiseau appears to market it these days as a black comedy, a genre that it doesn't really fit either.

It's about a love triangle between Johnny, Lisa and Johnny's best friend Mark. Johnny is a genuinely nice banker (I know...) who has set Lisa up with an apartment, car and lifestyle. Mark is Johnny's loyal friend who is eventually seduced by Lisa who has become very dissatisfied with her relationship. The film also features undeveloped sub plots and other characters such as the neighbour also set up and looked after by Johnny (and loved like a son) called Denny. Denny is something of a man-boy who likes to watch Lisa and Johnny kiss. Lisa's mother Claudette who visits every now and then for a chat and "went to the doctor and I definitely have breast cancer!" - This is never mentioned ever again in the film. Denny has a run-in with a drug dealer who wants his money on the roof of the building that they live in, we never hear of that again either. Michelle and Mike, a couple who like to use Lisa's couch to intimately eat chocolates off each other. It eventually ends with Mark and Lisa becoming hostile about their relationship at Johnny's birthday party and when everyone leaves Johnny trashes his place and commits suicide by shooting himself in the head. The last scene is Lisa and Denny crying and asking if he is really dead despite the large pool of fake blood behind Johnny's head.

The film is obviously meant to be a show case of Tommy's acting which is amusing because it's dreadful. The reactions to events taking place are flat, and when dialogue finally kicks in "Lisa, why are you doing this to me?" that is well... also flat.

I sat through this film and it was hard to watch, however in hindsight I can appreciate the cult following that it has, it's awful nature does make it amusing. Now Plan 9 from out of Space, that is a dreadful film!

[not finished]