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Review #144 of 365
Film: Urban Scarecrow [NR] 82 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $7.00
Where Viewed: Landmark Egyptian Theatre, Seattle, WA
When 1st Seen: 5 June 2006
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
The much ballyhooed world premier of Urban Scarecrow at the Seattle International Film Festival was extremely well-attended last night at the Landmark Egyptian Theatre on Pine Street in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle. Local filmmaker and director Andrew McAllister shot the film along the highway north of Seattle in an area he romanticized as a young boy using funds some of which came from the office of the mayor. While highly anticipated, it wasn't clear to me after seeing the film myself nor by judging the reactions of so many present that the film lived up to expectations. Staring a complete cast of unknowns, facing production limitations that bordered on being somewhat too artistic, and possessing a story that, while being incredibly realistic in that the film nearly replicates the daily routine of the lead character's life, was unable to capture my attention for any length of time. It absolutely pains me to write this because, as I have written before in relation to small independent films, I know the incredible amount of time and energy and love that goes into making such a film. Unfortunately, at least for me, the story here is one that just didn't go anywhere and left me feeling cold and empty—which is not how I like to feel after investing $10 and 88 minutes of my life. While I, therefore, cannot recommend the film to be seen by others with any great enthusiasm, I can comment on a few things I did like about the film.
I found the lead actor and character, Peter Richards as teenager Wesley Downs, to be very interesting. Wesley Downs is a 15-year old-ish kid whose stand-up-comedian wanna-be father has failed to earn enough money to pay the mortgage, so they move into a flea-bag motel room. Peter Richards brings the character heart and soul with an authentic flair. There is no way you could not want to like this kid and feel for his situation. Unfortunately, despite some sweet touches that give us some insight into his character such as him reading stories to a little girl that lives a few motel rooms down the hall, or him making eggs for his dad one morning, we really don't get too much more insight into where he is going and why. His best friend Derek, Ben Garman, seems like a bad egg from the start, and he proceeds to co-opt Wesley into crazy experiences and the incredibly risky and dangerous behavior of sniffing inhalants—a practice I could have lived without seeing, but worse a practice I hope a whole bunch of other people
"Urban Scarecrow has some nice touches, but the story really didn't engage..."don't pick up. Wesley's father Frank, Charles Leggett, did a decent yet sometimes clumsy job with his role. Some of his lines felt forced and out of character. It was difficult to like him at all given what he provided for Wesley in the way of fatherhood—which seemed like little. Moreover, a lot of time is devoted to him going to stand-up comedy class and telling his jokes to people which, I'm sorry, I didn't get his jokes and didn't think they were especially funny. Another thing I liked about the film was the consistency of the bleakness of it. If you are going to make a bleak and grey tale, you may as well go for pure bleak. This film was so bleak, it looked almost black and white. Often, the imagery juxtaposed black and white, dark and light, achieving a persistent gray. This was as noticeable in the clash between Wesley's bleached blond highlights and his coal black roots and eyebrows as it was between the grey sky and dark landscape.
All in all, cinematically and artistically, Urban Scarecrow has some nice touches, but the story really didn't engage me into caring too much about what happened in the end, and the end really leaves so much up for interpretation as not to bother to tie up what little there was to manage in the first place.
Review-lite [150-word max]
Seattle director Andrew McAllister shot Urban Scarecrow north of town along the highway in an area he romanticized as a young boy. While highly anticipated, the very bleak film failed to live up to expectations. Staring mostly unknowns, with production limitations, and a story that, while replicating brilliantly the daily routine of the lead character's life, never captured my attention. I found lead actor, Peter Richards to be very interesting. He plays 15-year, old-ish Wesley Downs whose stand-up-comedian wanna-be father has failed to earn enough money to pay the mortgage, forcing them to move into a flea-bag motel room. Richards brings the character soul with an authentic flair. Cinematically and artistically, Urban Scarecrow possesses nice touches, yet the story failed to engage me into caring about what happened in the ending which, itself, leaves much for interpretation bothering not to tie up what little there was in the first place.
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