Um...thoughts anyone?
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5 comments:
Bug sounds interesting, but is a film I'll probably catch up with on DVD... although I do gotta say, William Friedkin did the unimaginable by making me actually interested in an Ashley Judd flick. Amazing.
I've been waiting to see this since it was SUPPOSED to be released last year in November. I love psychological thrillers.
Ok...my only goal for today is to write a review for this film....which may be the most impossible thing ever. But...here it goes.
First, I loved it. Absolutely loved it. Second, this is the weirdest fucking movie ever. Third, it might be Friedkin's best directed film.
I'm not going to bother with a plot synopsis. Too weird. Will give away too much. My only advice...don't listen to the trailers. This is the hardest film to advertise for ever. This isn't horror. This isn't psychological thriller. This isn't a straight-up drama. This is a schizo mash up of all of those and more. Toss in some dark humor, a dash of conspiracy thriller, and the grit and grossness of a good western...and then you have something kind of like Bug.
The acting throughout this is simply fucking amazing. Even Ashley Judd. I know. I know. Didn't think it was possible either. Michael Shannon. Holy god. He is insane. There's no question. He is wonderfully awkward in the beginning. But as he starts to descend into madness...his intensity and conviction are so strong that its easy to see why Ashley Judd's Agnes would follow suit. And Harry Connick Jr. is just great as the oppressive douchebag of an ex.
The acting is what sells this story. Without Shannon and Judd, this would have been a giant pile of shit. This was one of the most uncomfortable viewing experiences of my life. It felt like I was watching two people losing their sanity, and, at a certain point, their humanity. This I credit to Friedkin though.
This is not the film that a director who is in his fifth decade of film-making makes. It just isn't. Friedkin is experimenting here. And it pays off. From the opening long-range super-slow helicopter shot onward, the cinematography is just spectacular. His use of shadows half-covering Shannon's face in the beginning of the film...really adds to his creepiness.
To say the film is gritty and gross would be like saying Louis Anderson is a bit overweight. There's a sex scene in here that is the least sexy thing in the history of film. The whole thing just sweats. Seriously...I felt wet after watching it. And not in the good way. The grunge and the grit and the sweat get underneath your skin and stay and Noxzema hasn't invented a product yet that can help remove the layer of grim that you're left with.
By the time we realize what is going to happen to these two...around the time they have "bug-proofed" Agnes' motel room...Friedkin tosses us head first into a realm that is beyond bizarre. The blue glow of the dozen or so bug-zappers, reflected off of the tin foil covered motel room...it casts the whole ending act in literally a new light. This isn't just some weird delusion anymore. Watching Agnes and Peter slap at invisible bugs isn't funny. When Peter finally emerges from the bathroom to face a doctor who has come to get him...he is as far from the awkward but sweet guy that we first met. And what's worse is that it is all self-inflicted.
Friedkin makes us bear witness to two people's descent into madness. Literally. We watch as they melt away. And as they start to connect all the pieces of the "conspiracy"...its hard to watch. This is not your average...well...anything. The closest thing I can akin this to is perhaps a Cronenberg film. This isn't The Exorcist...in a way...its much more unsettling. It's not for everyone. In fact most will hate it. But...no matter which side you fall on...I will guarantee this: It will stick with you. Like a bug splattered and dried on your windshield. No matter what you do to wash it off....this movie will fuck with you in a way I don't think many have been fucked with. I'm happy to say that William Friedkin is back...in full force...and he can mindfuck me any day.
When I first saw this flick, there was dead silence in the theater. Everyone hated it. They had no idea what they just witnesses, particularly in the third act. I didn't know myself whether I liked it or not, but I certainly respected it.
I now have seen it two times. I now think it is perhaps the best acted and best directed film I probably will never see again.
Two other films that fall into that category would be "Hard Candy" and "Requiem for a Dream". Both stellar films that are hard to watch again. This film is perhaps even harder and more uncomfortable to watch.
This film relies more on its acting than perhaps any film ever. If they don't believe in the material than we won't either. Judd and Shannon are Oscar worthy in this film. They play it with such conviction that they completely sell it. Shannon, having performed it for the stage, clearly owns this role and I really can't think of anyone who could have done it half as well as he did.
This is a film that many will find unintentional humor in it, but how the characters react to these moments is what halts that humor for you, and suddenly you feel even more dread come over you. What you were laughing at has now taken a turn for the worst, and you feel bad not just for the characters, but you feel bad that you were making light of the situation.
I wouldn't say it is Friedkin's best movie, but it is possibly his best directed. I concur entirely with pengin thoughts. Directors at his age don't make movies like this. The imagery in this is both the most disturbing and the most heart breaking stuff you will see this year.
"Harold and Maude", "Punch Drunk Love", ...Bug is still the weirdest love story of all. If I had to categorize it, it would be a schizophrenic love story. Agnes is so desperate to believe in something or someone, that she spirals into insanity with Peter all because of sincere and passionate love for him. It really is tragic, but oddly kind of sweet and beautiful. God this movie has fucked me up.
PS Recall when Hitchcock required that theater owners didn't admit anyone into "Psycho" once the film had started? I think the studios should have requested that theater owners don't have the AC on whenever "Bug" is on. I think it probably would have induced insanity into a few of the audience members. I think that would be a really cool gimmick.
This is the first time I've agreed with both of you at the same time.
I'd toast with champagne but I don't drink, so I'll microwave a kitten instead.
Michael Shannon has my undivided attention now everytime he appears on the screen. If, and I use that word so loosely it would be in a Girls Gone Wild video, IF I ever watch Lucky You or Let's Go To Prison again I'll see him in a completely different light.
But, yeah, the movie...shit.
Hmm.
Okay, first off everyone I saw it with hated it. They laughed at the parts where I was clicking my fingernails together in a complete mess of nervousness. This movie takes every obsessive fear or compulsion and puts it in a chaotic situation which in itself is an intsense fear that racks the compulsive and neurotic. Though I can't help but think that it was supposed to be longer.
I'm not really sure how I felt. I want to say I like it but that would only be because of the ending. I don't want to say I hate it because though uncomfortable and annoyed throughout the film, that was the film's ultimate purpose. It did it's job I guess, it just did it too well.
How do you type the sound of someone who's afraid of spiders thinking about spiders and getting creeped out?
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