Series 7: The Contenders (2001)

As I keep my promise to bring you more reviews, I am going to jump right into a film that I believe was ahead of its time even back when it was released in 2001.

With The Hunger Games making all kinds of money right now, I thought I'd shine a little light on a great, unnoticed film with the same subject matter.

Series 7: The Contenders is about a group of six people, five of which are randomly chosen to be on a survival reality show where the last one standing wins. Every one of the contenders is given a gun and is forced to play regardless if they want to or not since the other contestants are hunting them down. The film's main focus is on the winner of the last show, Dawn Largarto (Brooke Smith of Silence of the Lambs fame) who is eight months pregnant. After already winning two games, Dawn just has to win this last one before finally winning her freedom.

The five other contestants include Connie - a 57-year old emergency room nurse, Tony - an unemployed father of three, Franklin - a retired man who lives in a trailer park, Lindsay - an 18-year old student and Jeff - an artist who has been diagnosed with testicular cancer and is Dawn's old high school sweetheart.

The film starts off with the pregnant Dawn entering a convenience store and shooting a male customer in the head. She then proceeds to ask the clerk for a certain food she's craving. The plot of the film is revealed in a narration and montage in the beginning of the film. After that we are introduced to each of the contenders and given little back stories on each. The majority of the film focuses on Dawn and Jeff's relationship. The two were a couple in high school and broke up after Dawn got pregnant and had an abortion while Jeff, believed he was gay. Now married to a woman, Jeff is suffering through his illness and wants to die. He even offers that Dawn be the one to kill him.

Throughout the film each contender tries their best to kill each other and some interesting situations arise which is why I have to cut this plot description even shorter than usual this time.

The beauty of this film is the way it handles its dark comedic elements. The beginning of the film starts off as if it were a real television show and then after a few minutes you might find yourself laughing at it because the idea sounds so ridiculous but then like a warm bath, you sink in and get connected with the characters. There are some instances where the viewer's suspension of disbelief may be challenged but as long as you're able to look past that, I can guarantee a positive viewing experience.

Brooke Smith plays Dawn as a mother on the edge who will do whatever it takes, including killing for her baby. I find it intriguing that years before Dawn had aborted a baby she was going to have with someone she truly loved but is willing to fight for a baby that she can't even remember who fathered it. There are times where Brooke's performance can be too over the top but there are also a lot of moments where you sincerely believe in her and want her to win. The film does a good job of flushing out her character arc and later, gives you more to deal with when you find out more about her and Jeff.

There are also some good moments between the minor characters in this film. For example: each character comes in contact with Dawn and their humanity is tested due to her pregnancy. To the viewer, Dawn's unborn baby seems to make her invincible at times. I especially liked the interaction between Dawn and Jeff who give the viewer something to relate to, especially if you've ever felt alone and ostracized. Of the supporting characters, I especially liked the over-the-top teenage girl, Lindsay, who, like all teenagers, takes this contest way too seriously. She and Franklin, the old man, have a great running competition that ends with funny but bad consequences. There's also a good sub-plot with Tony who has been pushed too far. What happens can only seem reasonable to someone under the duress of losing his job, while trying to provide for his family and involuntarily participating in a game like this.

Besides some hammy acting by some of the supporting cast, the look of the film may be its only shining downside. I can't seem to find any technical specs online but I'm assuming this film was shot on digital video and converted to 35mm. It seems as if it were intended to give the film a TV show appearance but ends up reminding me of early to mid 1990s sci-fi shows. One must also realize that this was shot back in 2000 when reality TV was still in it's infancy (compared to the cesspool it has mutated into now).

On the upside, I did enjoy how the film was treated like a TV show with recaps of past events we just witnessed and "Coming up on Series 7" narrations. Personally, I would have filmed some fake commercials to scatter throughout, making it feel more realistic. Now, this isn't to say that the filming techniques make the film unrealistic, it's just something the viewer has to deal with and get over, or otherwise you won't end up seeing the film's merits.

Now, I haven't seen The Hunger Games and I have no intention of seeing it in the immediate future. While I do enjoy this type of sub-genre, it doesn't seem too interesting to me, however, I believe Battle Royale (2000) is the champion among them all. For everyone who thinks The Hunger Games ripped off Battle Royale, there are plenty of films and books which deal with the subject of hunting humans. The short story, "The Hounds of Zaroff" (1924 - Richard Connell) and film, The Most Dangerous Game (1932) come to mind. Some others are the films, Surviving the Game with Ice-T and Rutger Hauer, The Running Man with Arnold Schwarzenegger and the novel written by Richard Bachman A.K.A. Stephen King.

All in all, Series 7: The Contenders is a fun film that is modest in its presentation and acknowledges its faults while making you laugh at things you think you shouldn't be laughing at. It's a film that you shouldn't take too seriously, although some of the character's own personal struggles might soon seep into your brain, making you care more about them, while possibly reflecting on your own life.

3 1/2 Lottery Balls (Out of 5)

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Shallow Grave Criterion Blu-ray/DVD Announced

Announced only a few days ago, The Criterion Collection is releasing Danny Boyle's masterpiece of thriller cinema, Shallow Grave on Criterion Blu-ray and DVD on June 12th!

Click HERE for my original review!

Click on the BLU-RAY COVER BELOW to go to Criterion's homepage and pre-order it!

Film Geek (2005)

I am sorry I have not been writing many reviews as of lately. I have been on a month long excursion to Africa and there is no internet there. I have also been looking for a job and if you live in the United States, you should know that it isn't easy. I was kidding about the Africa trip - like I can afford that!

So without further ado, I am going to review a light-hearted film that you should definitely check out if you are a film enthusiast and enjoy the comedy genre. The rest of this review will be written in courier, the standard screenwriting font.

Scotty Pelk (Melik Malkasian) is a film geek living in Portland, Oregon who works at a video store called Video Connections. None of the other employees like him too much due to his lack of a personality and the fact that all he talks about is movies. Of course, Scotty runs his own movie website, Scottysfilmpage.com which hasn't gained a single hit. Like the obsessive he is, Scotty checks his hit counter on a daily basis and is disappointed every time. When Scotty is fired from Video Connections for being an annoyance to customers, he looks around town at other video stores that he could work at with no success.

On the bus, Scotty sees a girl (Niko, played by Tyler Gannon) reading a book about David Cronenberg and tries to talk to her about film but is rejected. Scotty eventually takes a job at an auto parts warehouse where he tries to connect with his co-workers, of course by talking about movies.

On his way home, Scotty sees Niko again and they talk some more over coffee. She invites Scotty to the opening of her art gallery later that night. Scotty shows up and is surprised to see Niko and her ex-boyfriend who is stalking her. Niko kisses Scotty to make her ex jealous and so begins a nerd's fascination with a woman who showed attention.

The rest of the film deals with Scotty trying to fit into the "normal" world via Niko who tries to assimilate him. Melik Malkasian portrays Scotty as an annoying nerd with a certain naive charm to him that you have no problem laughing at him one minute and then wanting to punch him in the face repeatedly. Scotty is similar to a puppy that craps everywhere, annoying everyone because he just wants to be loved.

Now, as a film geek myself, I can identify with Scotty on many levels. I used to work at a video store, I have a film blog and film is my universal language. Just typing the word "Universal" makes me think of Jaws and the classic horror monsters. At the video store Scotty even uses a shrink wrap machine and blow dryer...man, that takes me back. Like Scotty, I am very opinionated about the films I like and do not like. When he is working at the video store, Scotty even smells the VHS boxes - something I unabashedly still do.

Scotty is disconnected from the real world and even admits that he likes movies because they take him away from reality and let him be other people. He is so disconnected that when Niko asks Scotty what kind of music he likes, he lists off film composers like Howard Shore and Bernard Hermann. Scotty uses the worlds, "brilliant" and "awesome" a lot when talking about films and tries to persuade a customer at the video store to rent wide screen titles because they preserve the director's intentions.

As for the film itself, Film Geek is a great indie comedy that is geared towards the film geek, him/herself. There are plenty of jokes that the average film geek would understand that would fly over the average movie goer's head, however there are also jokes that everyone will understand and enjoy. The comedy that works the best for the average person is seeing Scotty's ineptness and how he handles the real world.

Film Geek does have its small problems and it is in no way a perfect film, nor does it comes close. There are some wooden deliveries of dialogue and the background music that is supposed to sound like things people in their mid-twenties would listen to is not. All of that doesn't mean this is a bad film and simply put, Film Geek is fun! Being that it's an independent film, it doesn't have lavish production values or the best actors when it comes to supporting characters but it works. There is some good instrumental music (complete with ba-ba-ba's) that gives the film and Scotty a more innocent and playful tone. The camera angles are impressive as the educated viewer can tell that the director and cinematographer knew what they were doing. In fact, I saw a lot of setups that I would have done myself, while being surprised by others.

It's rough around the edges at times but the charm of Film Geek is in its lead, Scotty and how he handles the world around him.

All in all, Film Geek is something I enjoy watching every now and then to remind me that there are other people like myself in the world who are more disconnected from society than I am. Like every other great indie film I see, it gives me hope that one day I will be able to make a film that people enjoy even if it is on a shoestring budget.

3 1/2 VHS Tapes (Out of 5)

 

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