Review "God Bless America" (film)

[Spoiler Alert- details to this films plot may be revealed in the critique]

            It is very rare I get to stop and watch a film these days. I attend ACTION FEST every year, and often I am working, filming, organizing, volunteering anyway I can. Sometimes this keeps me from seeing all the films I want to see. This past year they had a film called "God Bless America" which I tried to see and missed. I saw it on NetFlix and finally got a chance to watch it.
           "God Bless America" is a dark comedy of sorts about a middle aged man, divorced, who hates his job and his life. He fantasizes about taking out his anger on his neighbors, co-workers, and the pop culture celebrities he can't stand. In fact it starts with this scene in which he shotgun blasts an infant baby when the mother throws it up in the air. This was done in a way where had the rest of the film built in characters I fell in love with, I would have called it a gutsy opening. As is I will say it is a strong opening monologue and it makes me understand the character.
           Along his way he teams up with a fourteen year old girl. I may have the age wrong but its a pretty straight forward concept. They begin to dress in a 1950's style that sometimes works but seems to add to the general feeling of a really great film that gets distracted... becoming ok.

           I found myself feeling as though there was monologues instead of dialog. Most specifically from the young girl played by Tara Lynne Barr, who left me unsure if she or the dialog was the problem. I felt as though she must have had theater experience and maybe this was her first film. I looked her up and in fact she mostly has TV experience and was recently in the VG "Prototype 2". (So says imdb.com) The first game is good, I haven't played 2 yet. But by the time the film is over you realize the the dialog is just written in long monologues and this really hurts what is still a good little film filled with some really fun moments.
            Something else that was interesting to me was that this was a film by Bobcat Goldthwait. According to IMDB he is quoted as saying , "Some of it is how I really feel and see the world. Some of it is how my wife and daughter and see the world.". when asked what inspired him to write this. The cynical attack on American society is one that I can absolutely agree with, but just like the mock TV show of the Oreilly factor in the film, I feel like it is an over-saturated and preachy feature. My example would be during the seen when they hunt down this mock tv show host and kill him. After they shoot him there is some long dialog and back and forth about if the TV host has the guts to shoot the girl. All of which could have been cut out. The lead Frank, says his bit about "why do you have to be so mean," and then the line about the guys politics, boom she shoots him, they end with funny line about gun control. That's my "cut" of that scene. Quick, ruthless and to the point. Show me, don't explain it to me over and over and over.
           The lead actor does a good job. I wish I didn't feel like I sat through three monologues by him about the same thing... but he did a good job. There is a difficult relationship they attempt to tackle here, even referring to icon Woody Allens relationship with his adopted daughter to draw the parallel. A young girl on a mad spree with an older man. It is well played, and then over played a little, in a scene when they go thrift shopping for clothes.
           Frank, played by Joel Murray, makes a excellent point that really puts a stop to the issue all together. He kills people because he finds them mean, un-civilized, and an older man in his position shouldn't see her as "dating material". He begins to take on a wonderful uncle like relationship that relieves any stress on the dynamic seeming like a creepy old man with a 14 year old girl friend in a "Natural Born Killers" plot.
However, the film sits on this too long, and then has a scene later with a perverted trucker who Frank kills... I took this as a sign that Frank didn't like what he saw in himself mirrored by this man... which seems creepy and od and confusing for what has been established as innocent. Maybe this was the point. If so they did a good job, if not, I stand by that the film seems distracted., unsure of itself, or holding back on the ruthless parts while lingering on the preachy parts.
              Now I want to conclude by saying that these reviews of mine are really critiques. Sometimes friend have asked me, "why should I go see this movie, you make it sound awful..." I score films in a since with a simple grade because my critism is picking apart what I thought could have been done better. The score tends to reflect my true feelings on the film as a whole. I mean I actually watched the entire thing and wrote a blog so there is that. I could have turned it off and typed "crap" out and posted it. So take it all with a spoon of sugar. This film left me teetering back and forth between B- and C+. Its not bad, and worth checking out for many different reasons. But it may not be for you. I did not find the budget on IMDB, but the profits were not huge. I will now of course seek more films by Bobcat in curiosity.
Just my thoughts. ~Jack


LINKS:
Quote IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1912398/faq#.2.1.1

IMDB "God Bless America" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1912398/combined

First Time Actors

        I recently have been completing the cut on our first feature Ringside Rosary, and slowly beginning to look over the footage from our second Corners.  I am amazed that we found two lead actors, who were both first time actors. Not to the same extent mind you, but that brings about a very interesting comparison.

          One had never done any acting of any kind, excepts home movies when he was ten. The other had done a good bit of theater, but nothing on film. The difference between the two is striking. As a director I found myself working harder at bringing the first actors "over acting" down. As he had never acted before he had been cast because during auditions he looked the part, stood the part, and emoted more emotion than the actors with "experience". However, his emotions and gestures, breathing, and rhythm sometimes became too much. We would have to draw him back some, remind him of the "realism".
            With Corners, Chelsea found herself in a supernatural world crossing over into her reality. Her role had to show the audience what she saw with her facial expressions. I worked much harder with her at the character being real, and familiar. Off set I focused only on the motivation. On set I made sure she was aware of the bare necessity to the scenes. This helped her to not focus to much on herself. Sounds strange, but I watched her on set and saw a theater actress expressing with her entire body. So I filled her mind with things from off set that she would be trying to recall as she did the scenes the next day. But I relieved pressure or stress by reminding her during the scene that the basics was what was important. This seem to leave her with a calmer delivery that came mostly from her tone, and eyes. The closer the camera got, the more we perceived. I'm sure she found it frustrating at times, and I am curious how the two would respond, which they can of course.
           With Tom, his bigger than life performance was convincing, but to get too close for too long left him open. His eyes would give away his focus on lines, rather than the scene. In the end, BOTH were excellent choices and I thank my lucky stars we got them. I think Tom will make a splash and I know that with more acting he could easily put any Hollywood actor in a head to head competition. Chelsea I think will surprise a lot of people, she makes our film truly bold. Exposing much of herself to the audience and camera. She dived deep and even had the police called on us because of a convincing performance with her "father" outside a house in North Asheville.
           In the end, having a low budget meant our options were limited on casting. However, there were certainly others we seriously considered that had "more experience". In the end I think I made the right decision. The raw expression and unbridled passion they both brought to their role made them better candidates. Time is such a stress factor for an indy feature it helped cut through some of the time we didn't have. Because I may not have had as much time to work with the actors I need them to "be" the roles already to some extent. A gamble for sure, but one that seems to have paid off.
Just some thoughts...
~Jack

Breaking some myths about Down Poor Pictures

Ok so Down Poor Pictures has grown and changed a lot. Once I was one guy alone trying to make ends meet doing what I love. Now there is three, or five, or ten depending how you think of it. We have done a bunch of different small gigs quickly in these first eight months (our first with no feature in production and loans we didn't have last year). The year has gone by fast and there is so much - to tell it would take forever.
          There is a difficult transition ahead of us. We find ourselves teetering on an edge between the professional and the amateur... I wish I had a better word, Amateur isn't really what I mean in the sense that they don't do it for a living. But because we do things for fun like short comedy viral pieces, some people think we are just kids with a camera. Other people think we only shoot features and that they couldn't work with us on their commercial or short project. We work really hard to stretch peoples budgets not just their imagination. We like a challenge so if it is a new realm of work, we would probably welcome it gladly. We are unknown, but have a really solid network. The truth is we are a small local business like any of the coffee houses or restaurants. We rely on the support of the community and we are always trying to think of the community. This all creates a strange dynamic, and as I said before leaves us teetering between worlds.
                 The people we work with has changed and shifted and grown so much since we first began. I get frustrated and down because often I want very much for everyone to understand and get along. I tend to trust to much in folks or have to high an expectation. After awhile you begin to form a core team that seems to "just get each other".
            Sammy (my business partner) reminds me that people, all people, are more sensitive than they like to pretend. Bailey, our associate producer reminds me that many people are just as selfish and full of it as you might dare to think. More are out for a free token for themselves than not. The balance is tough. I find it odd that I have become the gruff boss in a lot of ways that pushes relentlessly for everyone to excel beyond reason. I have become a work-aholic. Stressed about bills and keeping track of it all, I have spun around dizzy and discovered the same thing that always rings true. The good people are still there. The "eh" ones suddenly are gone.
          We keep working with the same folks because we consistently get each other without any unnecessary bull shit. (I apologize for the language but it is the appropriate term for my meaning) And in my distress under the pressure of being a business owner I find myself thankful for Sam, Bailey, Mike, Danielle, Brian, Christi, Rainer, Val, Melvin, Diane, Katie, Brian, Zach, Robert, Billy, Cisco, Ralphene, Preacher, Linda (I know there are two Brians), Justine, Jon, ... hell all of ya, you know who you are. I am thankful we get to do what we love, together with people we call friends. And thanks to living in Asheville almost all our clients are really pleasant people to work with too.
just some late night thoughts. ~Jack