This past weekend really was a mixed bag of genres and stories and it was kind of a wild time. Plus a new viewing experience to boot!
Love Lies Bleeding – I was happy to see this get released so soon after its Sundance debut. It was just vague enough and stylistically cool that I couldn’t wait to see more. Also, an independent film Kristen Stewart and A24 is something I definitely wanted to see together. Stewart plays gym owner, Lou, who lives a pretty solitary life despite her sordid past with her dad’s business until she meets future bodybuilding competitor, Jackie. The two fall in love pretty hard and pretty fast, and it’s the lengths that people will go to for love that drive the chaotic second half of this film. There’s one bit at the end that kind of ruined the story for me a little bit, but it was so small that I can forgive it. Very original film with a stellar execution.
Snack Shack – What a random little film I only just heard about maybe five days before it was released. While the premise didn’t really sell it to me too much, the appearance of Nick Robinson was enough to push it onto the roster for me. A.J. and Moose are fourteen (okay…) year old’s looking to make a lot of cash this summer to start all kinds of businesses together. They really are quite clever and crafty for 1991, and their close friendship is admirable. Of course, on the brink of entering high school, of course girls are going to start getting in the way. What started off as a chaotic buddy comedy soon shifts gears into a more somber jealousy before really coming in with a smack in the face of reality. It maybe started off like what I was expecting, but it sure didn’t end that way. Think Funny Pages but with more vibrant colors.
The Room – Admittedly, I had never seen this cult classic before. Like some cult classics out there, this film is actually laughably bad, but my first time viewing it in earnest was made even better with the aid of an interactive showing! What was even more special about the occasion? The actor who played Mark and wrote The Disaster Artist that the 2017 film of the same name was based on, Greg Sestero, was there! He did a cool introduction of the film reading a scene from the original script and then participated in a Q&A after the screening. He also graciously signed my copy of his book! But, if you have the chance for a communal viewing of this film in the future, I highly recommend you go. Everyone deserves to see one of the best worst movies out there and see hundreds of plastic spoons being launched at the screen along with the yelling of several valid questions throughout. I had an absolute blast!
The Peanut Butter Falcon – For this month’s movie club pick, this 2019 gem was selected at the urging of my boss’s boss. It’s official, he has good taste! A true independent film fan at heart and he probably never even knew it! Of course, I loved this film when it came out, but somehow I haven’t viewed it since! Upon this revisit, I can tell you that it’s damn near perfect. Zak wants to escape the nursing home he’s been forced to live in as a person with Down Syndrome abandoned by his family, in order to attend a wrestling school he’s seen on videotape probably hundreds of times. He runs into a deeply troubled, but equally abandoned Tyler who reluctantly decides to help get Zak to his final destination. Social worker Eleanor just wants to protect Zak but learns she is actually stifling him from living a full life. This film is about kindness and finding your own family and I dare you not to feel warm and fuzzy after watching this film.