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Reviews
Pact (2004)
Chilling premise
This is truly a haunting film. It messed with your sense of time, space, and logic. But the underlying story is terrifying in its simplicity.
Kudos to the actors for great performances. Special mention for Steven Gridley, who stole the show with his very first line.
Great use of editing and camera effects to create the surreal alternate universe of the characters' collective subconscious. I loved the grit, the energy, and the brutality of the imagery. This film is certainly not for the kids.
A powerful piece of directing. Awesome production value on what I'm sure was a micro budget. The subject matter is tough, but the filmmakers deal with it without flinching. Major props all around.
The End (1995)
Amazing, mind-opening art
Chris Landreth has an imagination not of this world. But it's eerily rooted in the most mundane banality of human existence. You get the feeling that he looked so deep into boredom and despair that he found genius. And that we could, too.
The animation itself, grotesque yet beautiful, bursts with a kind of manic expressionism. You hardly know what's going on, but slowly you realize, that's the point. Landreth has utilized the breadth of the freedoms of CGI to pull the lid off his bizarre brain.
Talk about "thinking outside the box." It doesn't get much farther from the box than this. Watching Landreth's films is like getting a shot of adrenaline into your imagination. It's hard, as a filmmaker, to watch this film and not be terribly inspired by it.
Hopefully Landreth has some more projects up his sleeve -- I'm hooked.
Colma: The Musical (2006)
I laughed, I cried, I went home happy
This has to be one of the very best musicals I've ever seen, in terms of sheer entertainment value. It's funny, emotional, and ambitiously produced.
The music is a key element. It's intentionally simplistic and, yes, even a tad campy. But it's perfect. I don't even think I would want to hear a fully orchestrated version. The instrumental arrangements, even the occasionally shaky vocal deliveries are spot on. If everything was perfect, it would be a Hollywood musical. But it's not. It's the brilliant indie revelation that is Colma.
Jake Morreno is a genius. He's the new Jim Carrey, but with twice the heart. The whole cast deserves major kudos for their performances. And the director has my utmost respect for even daring to do something like this.
It takes guts to make a movie like this. Too often do filmmakers fall flat on their face in such an ambitious pursuit. But Colma is a joyous, remarkable, and thoroughly enjoyable film.