| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| randall |
Posted - 07/10/2013 : 12:06:07
Re-watched this one on NYC public television "Reel 13 Indies." The Duplass brothers became Sundance darlings with THE PUFFY CHAIR in 2005, then came back to the fest in 2008 with BAGHEAD. It's funny how time, and context, can affect the way you receive a work of art. When I first saw this, I thought it was an amusing little movie. Now I think it's some kind of no-budget masterpiece.
It's the story of four self-centered actors who attend a deep-indie film festival and then decide to spend a weekend in the woods writing a screenplay that will make them all stars. It'll be a horror film about a slasher who wears a bag over his head. What sets it apart from countless pointless "mumblecore" efforts is that the filmmakers know exactly where they're headed at all times, but their intentions shift midway through -- watch their CYRUS for another example of what I mean. The opening sequence, in which we join the festival crowd in watching the end of the most inane, pretentious, hamhanded black-and-white piece of shit the world has ever seen, is particularly choice. The talentless self-worshipping director comes out for a q&a, and anybody who's ever been to a film festival will nod in recognition. "What was your budget?" [He says $1000, but he wished he could have shot it for half that.] "Was there any improv?" [Some people didn't know they were in a film until he screened it for them later.] For some reason, these questions always get asked, and you can tell the Duplasses have answered them time and again. Three of our leads sneak into the afterparty; the fourth is busted when he tries to breeze past security holding his wallet like a clamshell cell phone.
Then we move to the woods and get to better know the lead quartet. They're models of narcissism, insecurity and repressed sexuality [there's a love triangle which keeps changing shape], but in a funny way. Reel 13 host Richard Pena explained that the Duplasses work from a detailed script but encourage their actors to improvise [that's one question down; you get to ask them about the budget]; the effect is some very genuine-sounding, almost banal conversation that propels the story obliquely. You, the viewer, make the connections and draw the conclusions.
One of the girls [Greta Gerwig, currently starring in Noah Baumbach's FRANCES HA] has a nightmare about a knife-wielding guy [or is it a guy?] wearing a bag over his head, and The Rogue -- the chief instigator of this whole project -- seizes on the idea for their screenplay. Not too much later, the story takes an unexpected right turn [in fact, several of them] which I won't spoil for you. I'll only say the final sequence is a beauty, providing a satisfying major chord without sappiness, firmly maintaining the integrity of the lead characters against the temptation to tie everything up in a pretty bow. Throughout, you can almost quote the lines that would appear if this were a traditional romcom, and they don't because it isn't.
BAGHEAD's not perfect, but it's a hell of a lot closer than THE LONE RANGER. It has modest ambitions [unlike the depicted characters] that it pretty much achieves. I know it has its share of haters: microbudgets are especially vulnerable to nitpicking. But I have to tip my hat: these guys aren't asking for any special consideration, and if you can forgive the conversational whip-pans and handheld shots [fewer edits equal a job more manageable on a shoestring], all this is, is a darn enjoyable flick. |
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