Those of you who don’t think I’m friendly enough to guerilla marketers should enjoy this entry. It’s a review of a DVD sent to me by a film-maker.
PLEASE NOTE that this is not a greenlight for everyone out there to send me everything. This kind of thing is highly dependent on my schedule, and other factors. This guy got in touch with me, has his film showing at San Francisco IndieFest along with mine, and his premise sounded interesting to me, so I offered to take a look at it. And here we are.
It’s called SIDEKICK, and the writer who sent it to me is Michael Sparaga (he’s also producer and editor). The director is one Blake Van de Graaf
I had a lot of misgivings when the movie started. It looked cheap, and everyone in it looked like a capital-a Actor with the kind of make-up and perfect grooming that real people don’t have (except for Daniel Baldwin, ironically enough; the biggest name is the most grunged down).
But, well, I’ll let Michael explain. From his cover letter to me:
“this DVD is made from a 29.97 fps export from Final Cut so it still has that video edge. The print has been down-converted to 24 fps and has that beautiful film grain quality — kind of looks like 28 Days Later now.”
Okay, so any critique by me of the visual quality doesn’t reflect the final product. I hope the make-up is less obvious in the final print as a result.
IMDB lists the running time at 87 minutes. I could have sworn it was considerably longer. The pace is very slow in the beginning, with just about every shot running noticeably too long. This is a danger for festival audiences, many of whom may have less patience than the norm.
But for those who do stick around, it’s worth it. The movie gets it together once the plot kicks in.
Essentially, SIDEKICK plays like a slightly more comic gloss on UNBREAKABLE, M. Night Shyamalan’s “realistic” superhero movie. Norman (Perry Mucci) is a computer programmer who works at both a local comic book store and an investment firm. One day,a minor accident with a coffee cup convinces him that a coworker, Victor (David Ingram) may have abilities beyond those of mortal men. With some encouragement from the comic book store owner (Daniel Baldwin, playing against type as a geek), he puts it upon himslef to try and show Victor the true potential that life as a superhero can offer. But Victor doesn’t take him seriously until a tragedy occurs in the Spider-Man/Uncle Ben mold.
Victor and Norman become awkward friends, especially when it becomes clear that anger and anxiety are what trigger Victor’s telekinetic powers, so Norman, who’s kind of an annoying nerd anyway, has to be extra annoying to help Victor develop. And Victor’s no noble Clark Kent, but a cocky stockbroker with a fratboy sensibility, whose idea of fun is using his powers to force muggers into having gay sex (Well, wouldn’t you do the same?).
Baldwin is easily the best actor here, on a whole other level from the rest of the cast. But the two leads, while somewhat exaggerated in their performances, develop an endearing chemistry, and the substitute for Kryptonite is amusing. One plot issue: Initially, it is set up that Victor’s powers can’t seem to function properly while being taped on video, but nothing further is made of that. I thought for sure that a sign reading “protected by closed circuit camera” would pay off, and it never did.
Sparaga has written a solid script here, and it would have been interesting to see it done on a bigger budget. That said, the effects, some of which I presume are CGI, are well pulled off, with no visible wires or glaringly obvious camera effects. Apparently a major studio HAS purchased the remake rights, so we’ll see.
Big props for imagination too — rare is the independent debut feature that would bite off so much in a high concept, and manage to chew it reasonably well, even if the occasional chunk or two is tough to swallow.
My advice would be to cut the first half down quite a bit more — no scene eliminations, just shorten every shot by a head and tail, as they’re mostly longer than necessary, and a faster pace would add comedic and dramatic tension. Build up the love triangle element perhaps a wee bit more, so we’re better invested in it when jeopardy arrives. But I also have to say that the movie in general is a lot of fun to watch, and I hope to see those involved continue to grow.
BAY AREA MOVIEGOERS: You can see SIDEKICK at the Roxie Theater at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb 9, and Saturday, Feb. 11.
More info on those screenings HERE
And Victor’s no noble Clark Kent, but a cocky stockbroker with a fratboy sensibility, whose idea of fun is using his powers to force muggers into having gay sex (Well, wouldn’t you do the same?).
Yeah, that’s just what I’d do. But I’d modify it to my own specifications, a pimp my ride’ for the Cathy’s world straight boys (Luke F./Mark, Lewis, Ody, Mike K., DMAC, Crid, and especially the Brit drunk profiled in the latest entry, referring to Graydon Carter as Hollywood’s “help.” I’d call this crew, “Cathy and the Gilligans” (straight boy/men who have somehow made her into their faghag Queen.) A menagerie of performance artists and/or Bushie worshipping nihilists, who must, for their sins, have sex tonight, post SOTU, with Rove, Gannon, Mehlman, W, with Papa Cheney supervising with a ruler or whip. And if that doesn’t unleash some anger fueled superpowers, then surely nothing will.
Sorry to rant on your bandwith, but after visiting, and seeing David Rensin step in the doo, doo, and this celebration of another asshole with bad manners, I have bottomed out. The above quote just kinda unleashed those aggressive impulses, righ here, right now.
I wish the filmakers the best of luck.
That’s funny! I can no longer even look for amusement at her comment section. It’s just a huge waste of time and misspent emotion.
Nice review, Luke.
Oops, sorry, LYT. I already invited 600 filmmakers and their concubines to send you indie movies to review…
“Guerillas in our midst”… you are too silly. (snicker, snicker)
’sokay, Jaye, I gave your home address to some guys in a parking lot who wanted me to buy a cassette of their beat-boxing.
if you score the movie of falling cats with the beat-boxing you have a customer right here.
RE: Cathy’s world, I just figure you go to a right-wing site, you’ll get some crazy right-wingers reading.
I wouldn’t take offense at Mark, though. He’s too ridiculous.
true that. i thought it was all pretty funny (the comments) for a while, but then, after a couple weeks, i was like, ugh, goodbye, bombast, you’re not as amusing as i or you once thought.
still, cathy’s an interesting writer/personality.
And why wasn’t I cast in this masterpiece? After all, I always propel the story forward.
LYT: Regarding the beat boxing tape… I was gonna ask you if you would, so thank you… it came today! I wasn’t happy about the chili sauce on it, but it’s a great record (and I suspect that *you* had more to do with the chili sauce, as it smelled suspiciously like ostrich… and okay, admittedly tasted as such.).
I’ve never delved into the comments section on Cathy’s site. Given that I often go into enough mispent emotion here and on my own site, it’s prolly a good thing. I just visited the site itself again, the other day though, just to kinda check in on her, in a good vibes kinda way.
Man, I could’ve sworn I commented on this.
Your comment scared me at first, Leigh, because I thought it was some sort of secual fantasy instead of a revenge fantasy…
Hoorah for superhero movies! We need more of `em, esp. with non-established characters!
Hahahaha–David, it is a revenge fantasy! It is twisted enough to be a sexual fantasy though. And I think it should scare you. My panties are all in a twist. I will not rest until the identity of Mark, who is a performance artist in the stable of Cathy’s gaggle of oddball boys, is revealed. Well, I guess I’ll rest. But what makes it doubly scary/creepy, is that his talking points are infinite,relentless, a fugue of the hollowed out zombies of the living dead. Some of the regular commenter dudes were even referring to him as real;someone called him compassionate the other day. I think at the time, his character was being enlisted as ammunition against David E.’s talking points. He is asexual. They all are, on the screen at least. Disembodied. Relentlessly asexual. The Andy Kaufman mold, where when you want it to stop, for the guy to break the mask, he won’t. The performance object/figurines as paratrooper, or the preadolescent asshole in class who was always annoying. I agree with Justin, her stuff is great (even though her ideology is far from my own, her essays make the stuff palatable, you feel like she is looking for some truth in the midst of the lockstep), but the comments, oy! And Cathy never ever says a word in reference to Mark, ever. It has to be Luke F. And I have to admit, although I know it makes me seem unglued, which I am, it really does give me the heebie jeebies. And now Ody is invited to join in, on the Op Ed page no less. Yikes. Help. Help me quit my visits, please, someone, before it is too late…
Given that I often go into enough mispent emotion here and on my own site, it’s prolly a good thing.
Jaye, that is just why I need to stop. I am much too reactive lately. When it stops being fun, then I feel a need to regroup. Losing my balance. And it is fragile enough to begin with.
Luke Ford could definitely be Mark. That’s actually really hilarious. Luke Ford is a helluva performance artist.
After browsing the latest comments it seems perfectly obvious that Luke is Mark. Is this already commonly known?
Lukeford.net has become one of my favorite things to read online. I can’t figure out why.
Justin, you have a lot of monikers.
When I first discovered Luke F’s stuff, I really dug in, especially with the Hollywood profiles. The Dada Orthodox Jewish stuff and porn stuff, after a while, bores me. That is why I called it nihilistic, it just seems so equivocal and performance art-like, and after a while, dispiriting. Maybe in real life he is charming and fun, but there is this underlying contempt in his writing, where nobody seems real. Everything is projection. There is also a theme of looking for new parents through hobbled together affiliations. Cathy is his Mommy and Dennis Prager is his Daddy. And when not looking for a submissive female, he is looking for one to pay the bills. I read his site, but like a bunch of other stuff I read, wish I didn’t. The last bit about his girlfriend, revealed this creepy, creepy disdain for women. Comparisons to the inside of an asshole. Stomach turning contempt for everyone, Jews, porn girls, everyone. Self contempt externalized. Even Lewis, according to Cathy, was repelled. The commenter on Cathy’s site who said he is many things, but not an orthodox jew, seemed right on to me.
Luke T, if this thread is annoying to you, let me know and I won’t write about it anymore here.
I got no problem with this thread. Though if it becomes an ongoing discussion you may wish to take it to the message board (haven’t seen you on there yet leigh — take the plunge sometime!) where active discussions stay high on the page.
Speaking as probably the only person here who has met LF in person, I’ll note that he is a very friendly individual, prone to saying really inappropriate things really loudly (and repeating online every inappropriate thing you say, unless you tell him otherwise in advance). He is also about as far right as this Mark character politically. On the other hand, about 90% of what he puts out there is deliberate provocation to get a rise out of people.
If he is Mark, he’s done a better job than usual of not giving himself away. Most of his online personas have very obvious tells — for one thing, they always end up talking about him eventually.
Has either of you seen his porn blog, lukeisback.com?
Yeah, I’ve checked that porn blog out too. Very arcane and particular about things & people I have no idea about, but I’ve been known to read through his day’s work. I find the “advice” blog funny.
Leigh–I understand everything you are saying. I’ve no real position. There are a fair number of writers I’ve come to enjoy that live a life vastly different than mine, and hold philosophies that have no kinship to my own, but there is a thing to the work I can’t put a finger on. I am a huge Hunter S. Thompson reader, a person who had a vast catalog of political, personal, cartoonish, and outright terrifying pieces, and who lived a troublesome, questionable life, and I keep thinking of Luke as some kind of right-wing, modern version of this style & character. I just like his writing style. I like the chaotic nature of his work. I might not feel the same after a while, but it’s a ridiculously absurd ride. Or maybe I like that it is something of a car crash. Being male too maybe I can disconnect in a vital way that makes a difference. While much political vitriol on the web gets to me, I don’t take Luke’s writing in a personal way at all. But again, I hear ya.
Blah. I guess I don’t spend that much time reading him. He’s just been a recent fascination.
He probably thinks such musings are pretty hilarious.
Note: I was recently taken with interest in Henry Darger too.
RE: my monikers…
You’re tellin me. There’s a few four-letter ones out there that others hold dear to their heart too!
I feel relieved, cause I figured I was being overly critical, which I guess I have been. I am all over the place, sniping at everyone all week, online and off, and it isn’t even PMS. I am taking the political juxtapositions much too personally. Talk about letting them enter your living room, put their feet up, and stay awhile. I need to distance myself from the buzz, and if I am good, stay offline all weekend. Whenever I have deadlines, I am stuck at the keyboard, and I spend half my time avoiding work by surfing around. So I admit to working out my own frustrations of the week on strangers in the blog world.
I have seen the porn site, and then I lost it. Probably best that way.
The very right wing stance makes sense. It would explain the “Mark” schtick. But it’s funny Luke, your line about how all the other alter egos eventually talk about Luke Ford. Hahaha!
Justin, the Hunter Thompson stuff is interesting as a comparison; the boundary pushing, etc. I see more of that decadent Warhol hanger on mascot of the adults thing in Luke’s writing. Urban decay and ennui. Thompson seemed to have had much more fun. Then of course there were the drugs. Do you like Bukowski? I do.
I’ll have to check out the message boards, I haven’t even looked at them.
Hope the screening is a big success this weekend.
May you have a gazillion offers!
I very much like some of Bukowski’s work. In particular, I love his poetry. The poetry is very fine modern literature. There is a movie adaptation of one of his stories that played at Sundance I am curious about.
True, Thomspon seemed to have fun living some of his life, but much of the writing seems a mask for a deep sadness and disconnect. At times he seems to be working very hard to make a kind of case for himself as a human being in a world he viewed as decaying, while in his deepest parania is was likey he who was the world decaying. And it was all very much like propaganda, from day one. He MADE himself a star, or it’s probably better to say he made himself a noted personality. From his teenage years on. The massive two volumes of letters are very telling. He saved a copy of EVERY letter he EVER wrote to anybody, planning from the very beginning on publishing them all eventually.
But I certainly don’t mean to overstate a Thompson/Ford parallel. Too reductive.
I can definitely see the Warhol angle too. That’s interesting. God, we’re talking about this guy too much. He’s probably reading and getting tragically off.
I love his poetry
Justin, me too, that is what I love.
much of the writing seems a mask for a deep sadness and disconnect. At times he seems to be working very hard to make a kind of case for himself as a human being in a world he viewed as decaying…
Nice line/perspective.
He’s probably reading and getting tragically off
hahaha, okay, I’m all done if you are.