UPSTREAM COLOR
(US - 2013)
Kris meets and forms a tentative bond with Jeff (Carruth), an accountant and recovering drug addict who lost his job and his wife when his habit compelled him to embezzle from his previous employer. Like Kris, Jeff is putting his life back together and bears the scars of a mysterious past, figuratively and literally as he has nearly identical parasite/surgery-related scarring as Kris. As these two damaged souls drawn to one another, building a relationship and a future together, they're haunted by shared memories they can't comprehend, telepathic connections to the pigs on The Sampler's farm, and prone to almost hypnotic states where a visual or aural cue will remind them of the brainwashed trauma they don't recall...until the pieces start to come together. That is, for them. Not necessarily for the viewer. With the late-film introduction of two gardeners picking orchids and other flowers, there's some hints of a mythic "death/rebirth" Circle-of-Life motif, and one possible reading of the plot would be to say that Kris and Jeff are already dead, but I'm fairly sure that Carruth isn't going for that kind of rote, Shyamalanian simplicity. I don't think the mysteries are important to appreciate the film, though things probably become a little more clear around the 10th or 15th time through. Carruth (who also edited, served as a camera operator, and composed the very Cliff Martinez-ish score) has fashioned a trance-like film that's very Malick-ian in its visual beauty and might make an interesting double feature with Panos Cosmatos' somewhat similarly-themed and equally dreamlike and impenetrable BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW. (Unrated, 96 mins)
REVENGE FOR JOLLY!
(US - 2013)
With its cavalier attitude toward mass slaughter, it's little surprise, given some events of the last year, that REVENGE FOR JOLLY! might've made some distributors a little skittish. It's extremely unsettling seeing Harry and Cecil crash the wedding reception of Bachmaier's sister (Kristen Wiig) and start mowing people down. Petsos doesn't seem too concerned with making either Harry or Cecil particularly likable, but he makes Harry's grieving serious enough that in a strange, sick way, you understand where he's coming from. There's some surprising heart to a monologue of Harry's where he shares his favorite memories of Jolly, talking about a night where he made bologna sandwiches and fed her some bites. Petsos convincingly sells it when he says, with his eyes filled with tears, "That was a great night." The film takes place in a strange Staten Island that may not be real and may just be a revenge fantasy in Harry's head, or it's just set in an unspecified past: Harry drives a mid-1980s Cadillac, and no one seems to have a cell phone to dial 9-1-1, and there's no cops in sight, but I guess you just have to roll with it. Directed by Chadd Harbold (another FUNNY OR DIE! vet), REVENGE FOR JOLLY! is uneven and doesn't have enough material to justify even its brief running time, but there's some interesting and occasionally daring stuff here (and a cool, synth-based score by Whitey) and at least as a writer, Petsos might be a talent to keep an eye on. The large supporting cast of well-known or recognizable faces includes Elijah Wood, Garret Dillahunt, Kevin Corrigan (delivering the most uncomfortable best-man speech imaginable), Adam Brody, Bobby Moynihan, David Rasche, Jayne Atkinson, Gillian Jacobs, Amy Seimetz, Stephen Payne, Britt Lower, and John DiBenedetto. (R, 84 mins)