Last friday was the Red State screening that I had previously blogged about. Partially because of the film, partially because of the interaction with the crowd, partially because of the company, it was a fun evening.
First thing is first. This is not a horror movie as I was expecting from the build up or the trailer. It’s mostly suspense / drama. I accept Smith’s explanation for his categorization of the film as horror. He states that because in his days of working at RST (a video rental store made famous in Clerks), this is where the film would have wound up in the genre categorization common in the movie business. There’s more of a social / political aspect of it than there is a horror element to it.
While I hate it when movie reviewers talk in terms of “first act” and such, it actually works here. There are three distinct acts with a little bow tie at the end. The general topic known by the trailers are extreme religious right. That’s about all you can get without reading about the film or another review. I’ll discuss in complete generalities not to give anything away…
Act one sets the stage. There are horny teenagers in a nondescript town. Not a big shock, and this seems like the basis for a more standard Kevin Smith film. But instead of there being comedic relief in the way of the nemesis, they are more calculated and much creepier with no real comedy to speak of.
Act two is the creepy people. The main characters in this area of the film were minority introduced in the first act, and the act one characters take a major back seat. The momentum grinds to a halt here in a sermon scene, but it does more to establish the characters at the heart of the movie despite slowing everything down. It works.
Act three comes about with little to no warning. The direction of the movie takes a turn, though not completely out of left field given the general topic of those in act 2. There are a host of characters introduced with the focus going back and fourth between the new characters and those from act 2. The act ends with a major WTF moment.
At the odd conclusion to act 3, the film is quickly wrapped up. And while act three ends oddly, and I love that it’s not left hanging like more annoying filmmakers would do.
I think the film was around or under 90 minutes. I’ll see it again when it comes out. I may also be writing about it for a friend, and I’ll link to it if I do.
But what’s important to note is that Smith is making a good effort to show a new model for how films can be made, distributed, and promoted as a whole. I’m not really going to go into much of it, but there are a few cool things. The film wrapped in September and is being shown to audiences about six months later. Filmed digitally, it was able to be edited on the fly with minimal re-shoots. He’s using screenings to both fund part of the distribution process and create a base of hype / press for the wide release in October. It’s cool to be privy to as much detail of the process and even take part in a very, very minor way.
Anyway, that’s it for here, but I do recommend seeing it.
Now if I could find out who was broadcasting a wifi network “F***KevinSmith”