Review #344 of 365
Movie Review of Love cracked! The Movie (2006) [NR] 87 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $3.75
Where Viewed: Home Theatre due to Closing of All Movie Theatres in Denver due to Blizzard
When 1st Seen: 21 December 2006
Time: 11:45 p.m.
Film's Official Website
DVD Release Date: available now
Directed by: Elias
Segment Direction: "BugBoy" by Tomas Almgren,"Witch's Spring" by Brian Barnes, "And This Was on a Good Day" by Brian A. Bernhard, "Chaos of Flesh" by Grady Granros, "History of the Lurkers" by Justin Powers, "The Statement of Randolph Carter" by Jane Rose, "Alecto" by Simon Ruben, "Re-Penetrator" by Doug Sakmann, & "Remain" by Ashley Thorpe
Story and Screenplay by: Elias
Story and Inspiration by: H.P. Lovecraft
Segment Screenplays by: "BugBoy" by Rebecca Finley & Tomas Almgren; "Chaos of Flesh" by Tomas Almgren, "Witch's Spring" by Brian Barnes, Gillian MacGregor, & Tom Wontner; "And This Was on a Good Day" by Brian A. Bernhard, "The Statement of Randolph Carter" by Jane Rose, "Alecto" by Simon Ruben, "Re-Penetrator" by Doug Sakmann, "Alecto" by Robbie Simons
I received the screener for Love cracked! The Movie a while ago, and finally had the opportunity, due to the Southwest Blizzard of 2006 which closed the city of Denver for a day and a half, to sit down and watch it. Accordingly, I got my popcorn and Mug's® Rootbeer and a comfy spot in the home movie theatre. I had no expectations. The screener was sent out by the publicity arm of BiFF JUGGERNAUT Productions with a request that I watch and review it. The film begins with a faux journalist (Chad Bernhard) doing an intro scene to the faux documentary on the life of horror author H.P. Lovecraft that connects the segments of the film together. As the filming is going, he breaks the 4th wall and starts talking to the cameraman, the director, and anyone else who will listen about the poor special effects of the scent, lack of mist, lack of proper location, etc., while a faux bat is fluttering around his head. It was a funny bit in an uncanny sort of way. After that, though, the film then proceeds through various bizarre and unusual segments all written and directed by various people inspired by stories of by Lovecraft and his life. To call this film tongue-in-cheek is a grave understatement. Never in my life have I seen a film that truly, it seems, and to reuse the cliché, "only a mother could love".
"…overly artistic intention collides squarely with elaborately incomprehensible stories yielding an amalgam of a confused, muddled mess."
Generally speaking, with independent films, especially ones that are just at the film festival phase, I like to be as supportive and encouraging as possible. The people behind such films, the artists, the actors, the writers, the director, the producers (who have shelled out a load of money) deserve some recognition for trying to bring a vision to life against the odds. Generally, also, I believe in the notion that, to a degree, critics can be too hard on films, or have unrealistic expectations, or miss the point. Finally, while I try to follow the tradition of "if you cannot say something nice, say nothing at all", there are times when certain films or visions of films defy common sense and prevent me, mostly, from adhering to these principles. Love cracked! The Movie falls into this category as the overly artistic intention collides squarely with elaborately incomprehensible stories yielding an amalgam of a confused, muddled mess. Quite possibly, this is a case of "must be seen in right mindset at the right time by the right H.P. Lovecraft groupee", I am not sure. All I know is that there have only been two other films in my lifetime that I've walked out of in the middle before this one: 1987's Aria and Academy Award®-winning Chicago. This one, unfortunately, I had to watch all the way through. I suppose the reason to stay is that the film might just get better in the end. In the end, everything might be cleared up. Not so with Love cracked!. Quite simply, the film is nearly 87 tortuous minutes. So, admitting that I just didn't get the film, nor the genius behind it, and even if I had Elias here with me to explain it scene by scene, I think I still might be confused by what his intentions were, I will move on to the positives about the film now.
The production values, effects, editing, and cinematography were outstanding for a low-budget independent film. Even the acting, when required, by the enormous cast, was pretty good. Some of the segment stories were far, far better than others, but they were all mildly incomprehensible whether due to shadowy writing or direction is unclear. By and large, it is a film that meanders from topic to topic to journalistic interview to story leading up to a stated idea that we might actually know less about H.P. Lovecraft than we did before the film. Probably the one line in the film I liked the best was when the faux journalist asks a person if he knows anything about H.P. and he indicates they make very good printers.
Send This Review To a Friend
Send This Review To a Friend
No comments:
Post a Comment