Deep Dark Surprise

                 Deep Dark Canyon, a new movie on Redbox, turned out to be a deep dark surprise, filled with dark comedy, social critique and exciting action. The story revolves around two families, one on top of the world, and the other just under their boot heels. Ted Levine stars as Bloom Towne, the local sheriff of an All-American, truck-driving, gun-toting small town. He and his two sons live in Guerneville, a town run by the Cavanaugh family. The tale begins when Bloom’s two sons, Skylar and Nate accidentally shoot the town’s mayor, Dick Cavanaugh. Bloom and the other members are torn between the rules of the law, their feelings of grief and the Cavanaughs’ need for revenge. The Cavanaughs declare open season on the Towne boys and the movie unfolds as an action pact chase adventure.


               Writers Abe Levy and Silver Tree craft a social critique on the culture of small town America. All the characters in Deep Dark Canyon have at least one gun and the motto of their small town seems to be “shoot first ask questions later.” The heavy presence of guns, and the lacking IQ’s of some of the Cavanaugh clan make for a surprising social commentary as well as some very entertaining dark comedy. Whether you are pro second amendment or not you can certainly appreciate that many of these characters needed to take at least one more minute before making the decision to shoot.
               One of the big themes of the movie is, of course, family. Levine’s character wrestles with a very difficult decision, to fight for the law or for his boys. The Cavanaughs on the other hand find it sickeningly easy to fight for revenge and family and ignore the value of human life. Each character wrestles with many different issues dealing with the three big themes (law, family, loyalty) in very different ways. In one brilliant little scene the filmmakers lay out the biggest dilemma for Bloom. A local waitress, who has heard all the rumors around town that the Towne boys killed the mayor, tells Bloom, “When there’s only one game in town, sometimes it’s best just not to play.” After that scene I kept thinking about that line and how it so beautifully echoed what each character was struggling with. Bloom, who struggles to take action for his boys, Nate (the eldest) who fights against the game, to make his own rules, Skylar (the youngest) who tries to follow in his brothers footsteps, and learns the price of playing, and Lloyd, Bloom's friend and a Cavanaugh, who struggles with his duty to uphold the law, and his loyalty to "the only game in town."

             The two Towne boys played by Spencer Treat Clark and Nick Eversman spend the majority of the movie hand cuffed together and on the run from crazy gun-weilding mad men. This chase, which could have easily run dull, is definitely a thrill ride.  I found myself unable to look away. The artful cinematography of Dan Stoloff creates an almost idyllic world of lush forests and a quaint town.
             This movie is hard to focus into one genre, it was so surprising how many different elements worked so seamlessly together. The performances are gritty and real, the filmmaking artistic, giving the full effect of an independent movie with the action and adventure of a traditional thriller. Many of the other reviews I read about Deep Dark Canyon were mixed, a few great a few not so great. There are three reasons I liked it so much, the performances, the action, and the overall filmmaking choices. The comedy is dark, and moments of this movie are very much unsuited for young children. My recommendation is that you give this movie a watch, it definitely keeps you thinking, whether you love it or hate it, there is so much to be discussed about Deep Dark Canyon that it is worth the conversation.

  

Oldies But Goodies

Since I couldn't really place this weeks film review into a category, this weeks Oldies But Goodies are three films which star the actors from Deep Dark Canyon.

And the Oldies But Goodies this week are....

1. The Silence of the Lambs starring Ted Levine
2. Unbreakable starring Spencer Treat Clark
3. Knocked Up starring Martin Starr

Ask A Film Student!

Your ask a film student question for this week comes from Will. Will asked What is a Best Boy?

Traditionally in filmmaking a Best Boy acts as a foreman for their respective departments. Mainly grip and electric to read more about the function of a Best Boy click here. 

Name That Movie

Last weeks name that movie winner is Katie for guessing Cherrybomb

CONGRATULATIONS KATIE!

Who will be next weeks winner, can you name the movie below?

Control. Alter. Delete. : A Review of Chatroom (2010)

“The internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn’t understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.” – Eric Schmidt (Executive Chairman of Google)

                   Award winning director Hideo Nakata creates a visual experience with his film, Chatroom. New to Netflix, this British thriller explores the world of online chatrooms and the young people who frequent them. The set up revolves around William (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) a teenager who creates a chatroom in order to make some online friends. The film implores the use of masterful editing to cast the world of online chatrooms in a physical light. The story opens with William logging on to his computer and beginning to set up the chatroom, this image is followed by William wondering down a corridor filled with doors. These doors are quickly revealed to be chatrooms, this corridor the Internet. Using this set up the filmmakers are able to show a highly impersonal world in an intimate way.


              Award winning writer, Enda Walsh, who first created the story for the stage, adapted Chatroom for the screen. He uses the story to highlight the danger of finding friendship in an online world. With each character Walsh explores the generation gap between the technologically savvy and their parents. The story follows five teenagers with very different backgrounds and personalities who all share a common loneliness. Their isolation drives all five teens to join the chatroom to find online friends and companionship they lack in their everyday lives. Like many young people today, the characters find solice in online strangers, opening up to them without knowing what kind of people they are. Once the bonds of friendship are created, William begins to “play” with some of the members, getting these lonely people to open up to a complete stranger, the consequences of which are sinister.

The reason I found Chatroom to be so incredible is the way the writing lends itself to the performers. The cast, lead by British actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, is a wonderful combination of fantastic young actors. Each is challenged with creating their character in the real world, and their slightly more animated counterpart for the online world. The set up allows these performers to be both deeply intimate and coldly distant all at the same time. For example, one of my favorite scenes (which I promise gives away nothing) is between William and his online friend Eva, played by Imogen Poots. The two have sparked a flirtation, which in the physical world is depicted as the two sitting coldly, separated by the length of a city, at their computers. The scene is spliced between this physical world, and the Internet world of their chatroom. Though the actors barely make eye contact the intimacy of the scene is tangible. Both the writing and the amazing young performers create a startling tale of real world isolation and online world intimacy.

My recommendation is to absolutely check this movie out. It is definitely too dark for a family film and may not be appreciated by those younger than 17. The story, the characters, the beautiful imagery all work together seamlessly together to create a thrilling tale about the darkness of the Internet. Check the trailer out at below and the full movie on Netflix.

Oldies But Goodies

In this segment each week I will recommend three movies on topic with the movie reviewed.


This weeks Oldies but Goodies are...

1. Disturbing Behavior (1998)
2. Hard Candy (2005)
3. Cruel Intentions (1999)

Name That Movie

Name the movie depicted below! Make your guesses in the comments section and the first person to guess correctly will be published as this weeks Name That Movie Winner!

Ask a Film Student Question of the Week: What is a grip?

         Wikipedia defines a grip as “lighting and rigging technicians in the filmmaking and video production industries.” Grips can perform a variety of jobs dealing with the set up of camera functions, such as setting up tracks. Grips can also be primarily focused on helping with the lighting set ups for any particular shot. To read more on the function of a grip check out Wikipedia’s full article here.

        Post your questions in the comments below and yours could be featured on next weeks addition of “Ask a Film Student.”