Massawyrm's INDIE INDIE!!! This Week: FREUD'S 2ND LAW
& LETHAL FORCE!!!
Well folks, Harry here and it seems that Massawyrm is
jumpingly excited to get on with his column this week. He just
left my house... after I finally beat him out with a garden
hose (problem was he kept shouting, "Thank you sir, may I have
another!") Sigh.... But he had to beat ass home to send me his
column and I needed to gargle and snort water... the second
hand smoke was so thick, you'd of thought we were in a
Marlboro sponsored Cheech & Chong flick... DAMN... Here ya
go with the latest...
Hola all. Once again everyone's favorite Chain-smoking,
Dr. Pepper swilling, indie schilling film geek is here to
share a little bit of indie goodness with each and every one
of you. And once again I have sifted through a pile of films
that would, well as the great Ernie Hudson once said "I've
seen shit that would turn you white." This time I've come out
with something very, very interesting. A film that is
definitely controversial, upsetting and may even lead to a
couple angry letters or talkbacks. Why? Because I liked it.
And I know that others haven't. But just to add a little
levity this week, I have another installment of my best of the
bad series; a little flick called Lethal Force. So without
further ado, I give you "Freud's 2nd Law".
"Freud's 2nd Law" is hands down the most disturbing
movie I've received for my column. It left me with an icky
I-have-to-take-a-shower-now sensation all over my body. It
took me through shock, angst and then after a couple of Camel
filters on the porch, cinematic elation. The way I felt when
the film ended is the exact way I felt walking out of such
films as Requiem for a Dream, Welcome to the Dollhouse and
most notably, Baise Moi; I really didn't know what to think. I
felt awful and yet I found so much to digest that it
ultimately sunk in that I dug it. Not all films that make me
feel this way fall into the elation category, but I'll get to
that in a moment.
"Freud's 2nd Law" is a slow moving film that slowly
peels away the layers of a woman's fractured sexual psyche,
each moment bringing us closer and closer to understanding her
dysfunction and the events that led to her eventual breakdown.
Amy Shelton-White brilliantly plays Nicole, a women struggling
with intense feelings of loneliness, sexual frustration and
abandonment. Every movement has subtext, every event reveals
more of her inner workings. By the end of the film we know
Nicole more deeply than we know many of our own friends. And
that's where the subtle brilliance of this film lies. It is a
character study, pure and simple, watching a woman live and
breathe after events that have broken her and left her damaged
beyond repair.
It opens mysteriously with 20 minutes completely devoid
of dialog. We watch and slowly learn about Nicole, unknowing
of the events that transpired or what exactly it is that's
driving this woman to do the things she does. But the beauty
of this film is that it never tells us, never shows us; it
merely alludes to what has occurred. Now, I will be doing
something I never do in this column. I will be reveling heavy
spoilers to further explain the film for those who are more
cautious of their viewing materials and for distributors who
need to know what they're getting themselves into. Yeah, and
those of you who are just plain curious. For the convenience
of those that would like to go into this film with no further
knowledge I will follow the spoiler paragraphs with a line of
asterisks. Begin Spoilers.
Alright. Quite simply this film is about rape. Before
the opening of the film, as is reveled through hints,
newspaper clippings and subtle dialog, we discover that Nicole
was brutally raped by a serial rapist, her parents have died
suddenly and she has discovered her boyfriend is cheating on
her (although none of these events are related). The first 20
minutes are the fractured moments of her waking up from where
she was left to die, finding her way back home and trying to
put the pieces of her life back together. With no one left to
trust and nowhere left to turn, she packs up her things and
starts her life anew in a seedy, crime ridden part of the
city. Her thoughts and fears, however, follow her.
And here is one of the problems that many people will
have with this film: what I have described is about the first
50 minutes of a 75 minute film. For those not immersing
themselves in the subtext, this film will feel empty, vacant
and completely devoid of plot. The plot itself doesn't take
off until the third act, when a woman who she has befriended
reveals that she was drugged and then date raped and Nicole
decides to take action, avenging her friend. Nicole then
seduces, drugs, chains up and rapes the offender with a
strap-on in a scene reminiscent in style to Pulp Fiction. We
see the rape, without it being graphic. Once that has
occurred, she decides to go after the man who she believes
raped her. And thus we have the last 10 minutes of the film.
I spoke to the Director, Ian Gamazon, who explained that
this film was a way of exercising his own demons, to vent out
feelings he had when a close friend of his was raped. He then
consulted several women when it came time to rewrite the
script, to ensure that his approach was not a misogynistic
one. I honestly feel he succeeded, especially as I was
surprised at the end to find out it had been directed by a
man, and yet it had the feel of a very feminist film.
***************
Now this films gets it's power from subtlety and
suggestion. What is so disturbing about what I like to
consider it's sister film, Baise Moi, is that it shows us
EVERYTHING. Be it sex, murder, molestation. We see every
painful moment visually and with full penetration shots.
Freud's 2nd Law, however, shows us nothing. Despite the
inherent sexual nature of the film, we see nothing. Not a
breast, nor a buttox. Nothing. There is a strange sensuality
to this film, but each moment of it is portrayed through
acting, not graphic explanation. And yet this film is still a
hard "R" because of it's subject matter. And it is just truly
disturbing.
Here's the problem. This film will no doubt fall into a
category reserved for only a few films. It is truly a Love it
or Loath it picture that, if it receives proper distribution,
will garner talk like those aforementioned films, as well as
films like Gummo, Happiness, and The Doom Generation (3 films
I despise, but each has an audience that loves them dearly).
This film received a review earlier this year in Variety by
Joe Leydon who called it "...a glumly pretentious
psychodrama..." and that it "...appears poised on the brink of
black comedy, stunningly incredible ending indicates that aud
is meant to take pic seriously." It seemed to me he was
expecting Happiness or Gummo and found instead a painfully
real film devoid of any attempt at comedy. And this may be the
case with audiences. Some will not get it and some will get it
and just not like it. And then of course there are those of us
that will love it.
This film moved me. Amy Shelton-White and director Ian
Gamazon have introduced me to a character I think I will never
forget. And love it or hate it, you will not be able to forget
her either. She is distinctively real and believable. And Amy
Shelton-White never shows her seems. From start to finish she
is Nicole.
Freud's 2nd Law was shot on 16mm and was self-financed
at a cost of about $17,000.
You can see Freud's 2nd Law at this years WinFemme Film
Festival in L.A., on Sept. 8th at 9pm. You can find out more
information about this film festival by visiting WinFemme.Com .
At this time, Freud's 2nd Law does not have a website of
it's own.
Freud's 2nd Law
Ian Gamazon
825 Ocean Park Blvd. #D
Santa Monica, CA. 90405
(310) 399-6894
In the words of John Cleese "And now for something
completely different." That's right folks, it's best of the
bad time again. Time for you to take off those thinking caps
and knock back a couple of brews to a film with no artistic
merit whatsoever. And the beauty is that their was none
intended.
This weeks pick: "Lethal Force", a no budget action
parody that I feel could never, ever ever get serious
theatrical distribution. I watched this film about a month ago
and at first had written it off as entertaining, but not quite
up to par for what I wanted to discuss in this column. I
thought, why would anyone want to see an action film with no
budget and no stars when the shelves of the local video stores
are filled with action films with big named action stars like
Richard Grieco, Casper Van Dien, Corben Bernson and -insert
Baldwin Here-. But then days after, it started to haunt me.
Jokes from the film crept into my skull and made me chuckle
and other films had scenes that reminded me of those in Lethal
Force. And then I received a post card with the bad assed
poster art for it, and I knew. I had to watch it again. And I
did. And I laughed, harder than the first time.
This is a cheesy action spoof, ripping to shreds
Blaxploitation, Low budget fare the likes of which I earlier
described and best of all, John Woo movies. It's about a
hitman forced to sell out his nigh unkillable partner when his
family is threatened by a bigtime underworld mastermind. This
film has a boatload plot threads, playing out almost every
single action film hook you've ever seen. It riffs on John Woo
angst, Mexican standoffs and of course, martial arts (with
some well choreographed fight scenes, that although they
aren't anywhere near Jet Li or Jackie Chan, they are on par
with other actioners in this genre).
Populated with some cool sequences, great masked goons,
lots of gore and one bad assed hired gun, this is a film
proves to be fun and worthy of a watch. This is the perfect
film for distribution with someone like Troma Studios, who
specializes in low budget, fun fare like this. So when you
find this one, kick back, pop open a brewskie and have some
fun. But beforehand, check out this cool site, loaded with
artwork, info and the trailer LethalForceTheMovie.Com
.
Well folks, that's it for the Wyrm this week. See y'all
next Monday for another installment of Massawyrm's Indie Indie
Revue. Till then: Smoke 'em if ya got 'em. I know I will.
As Always I implore, beg and beseech all you indie film
makers out there, from the Big named, modest budgeted indie
gods to the basement production artists and student film
geeks: Send me your films. I want desperately to see them, to
talk about them, to scream their praises from on high. Please
please please. I'm begging here. Send me those freaking films.
Massawyrm
3408 Red River
Austin, Tx. 78705
Well boppers and all you cool cats out there, this is
Daddy-o Massawyrm, smoking a camel, slamming a Dr. Pepper and
saying I'll see ya next week when I bring you more
undiscovered cinematic gold and until then:
Smoke crack if ya got it. I know I will.
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