Bounty – 2014 – Adorable coming of age film

I won’t bore you again with how difficult it is to write reviews on shorts. But then again, I just did, didn’t I? The truth is that even if this is a 22 minute film it still has a lot of content. Many short movies have a scene or two in them and that’s all it is to it. Everything is very compressed and a lot of this has to happen in a short amount of time. I never get that feeling here. It’s better paced that many of the feature films I see every week. The story may not be vast but it’s still enough for it to work.

Tako, is a black kid. He’s adopted by a lesbian couple and raised accordingly. Some of the other kids call him bounty, because he’s brown on the outside and white on the inside. Tako hates it and wants to blend in with the other kids. He claims that his father is a well known artist, a rapper called “dirty man”. That’s not true of course but it gives the other kids something else to pick on him for. They need to show him how to behave “proper”.

I think the film tries to teach us right and wrong and I think it does a fine job doing it. There are morals in the story which should appeal to all of those who preaches about finding your “inner peace”. It’s not about what other think of you. What’s important is what you think of yourself, if you’re true to your “inner peace”. I think there’s a lot of kids out there trying to be someone that they’re not just to impressed their friends. But I say that real friends encourage you to find yourself and accept you for who you are, not anything you pretend to be.

As I said, it’s 22 minutes but it’s rich when it comes to emotions and I really liked the morals of it. This film is needed. Everyone should see it!

7/10

The Gays – 2014 – an exercise in poor taste!

If the tagline ”an exercise in poor taste” weren’t taken by John Waters Pink Flamingos already it would have suited this film just fine! I say that with the best of intentions since I like this film very much. If you’re low or have a troublesome mind this will surely cheer you right up. I don’t think there’s a single serious moment to be found anywhere.

Still, it might be the most political incorrect film I ever saw. It’s not as revolting as Sprski Film for instance, but this is a comedy after all. I think there’s just about every prejudice towards gay men you can think of to be found here. This may not appeal to everyone but I really liked the humor of it. I guess you might be offended if you are gay yourself and think that the film is displaying serious thoughts on gay relationships. I don’t think that’s the case but I do think it mirrors some of the anti-gay homophobic movements out there.

There’s not a whole lot of plot to tell here. The most of the film is made like skits with a conversation in a bar to glue things together. The acting is quite solid and I was a bit surprised by that. It’s still like the characters are caricatures of themselves but it's made in a nice way. There really wouldn’t be any other way of doing it. It works just fine and it’s immensely entertaining!

Even though there’s not much of a plot, there are still characters to take into consideration. We get to follow a family who, shall we say, has a very different view of relationships and sexuality. It makes no difference if it's homo- or heterosexual really. It would be equally twisted. In short, they teach their children that they always should take advantage of their friends’ rectums and never turn down an opportunity to perform oral sex on handsome men. There’s much more to it of course but I won’t give away it all. You’ll have to make do with those small samples.

The imagery is also quite explicit. Taking the topic in consideration it could have gone further in some cases, but not without making it pornographic. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing pornographic about this film, but if it were, it would have been a gay porn comedy! I’m glad it isn’t just that though as I usually don’t enjoy gay sex in films, pornographic or not. But there is some full frontal nudity and there are a few penises to be seen. They’re mostly none erected but might be semi erected on a couple of occasions. If you have a problem with that, maybe you should not see this film. But on the other hand, if you’re offended by this movie maybe you should see it!

8/10

Found – 2012 – Bloody and violent!

This is a fairly violent and bloody movie, but it’s not a horror movie in essence. That’s my opinion anyway and I’ll tell you why. There’s a serious message to be told here and it’s done by letting us watching youngsters watching horror moves. Very violent horror movies I might add.

The essence in my book is about exclusion though. We have this kid, Marty, that gets bullied in school that finally fights back and is made the bad guys for it. Ok, I don’t agree with violence but there is only so much you can take. The bottom line is that you shouldn’t have to apologize for standing up for your rights. Kids might be kids but that’s no excuse for picking on other kids. And besides, Marty wouldn’t get into the fight if it weren’t for his older brother, Steve. It was him who encouraged Marty to strike the other kid if being bullied.

The older brother is an interesting case too. I don’t know what his mental status is but he sure has issues. He seems to hate people and his mom and dad in particular. At times he seems to have a split personality and he likes to chop people’s heads off. He keeps them in a bag in his closet. Marty has found that bag of course and as he looks up to his brother he’s fascinated by it. He dreams about what it must be like to chop of another person’s head.

This brings us to the video violence part. Both Marty and Steve are into bloody and violent flicks. Steve is maybe ten years older and has a collection of violent horror flicks. He lets Marty borrow them from time to time. Marty is especially fascinated by one called Headless, which features a killer in a skull mask. He chops off women’s heads and then has sex with them. The heads that is! It’s totally macabre!

You can imagine the mess Marty’s in. His brother seems to be a psyched killer, he’s bullied at school and he’s starting to fight back towards them who hurt him. He’s starting to stand up for himself. The horror flicks certainly doesn’t help, even though he loves them. He’s all alone. He had one friend but after he leaves him too he has no one – except for a protective big brother!

The script is very complex and it’s hard to describe the film. I like the small and tiny development that drives the story. I think the actors are very good except for a few times when their lines aren’t very convincing. But considering the budget was $8000 I guess you can’t have it all.

I guess the bottom line is about bullied children but the mental status and/or illness of the older brother is in focus too. I like flicks that focus on both things and thus this is a great flick in my book. One of the best I’ve seen recently actually.

8/10