Movie Review - Baghead
Our favorite local theater had a free screening of Baghead last night, which my wife and I decided to attend at the last minute. We were both pleasantly surprised to enjoy a decent, mildy scary, and occasionally funny film by the Duplass brothers (who did Puffy Chair, which we haven't seen).
Baghead centers around four friends in Los Angeles. Stuck in the fringe section of Hollywood, as extras in low-budget films which are shown at places like the fictional "Los Angeles Underground Film Festival", the pals (Matt, Chad, Michelle, and Catherine) decide to spend a weekend at Matt's uncle's cabin where they plan to brainstorm and write a movie. This movie, which would star the four of them, would hopefully be their ticket to move on to greater things.
The early portion of the plot deals mostly with the inter-relationship conflicts. Matt and Catherine (Ross Partridge and Elise Muller) are on-again-off-again romantic partners. Matt's friend Chad (Steve Zissis) has the hots for Michelle (Greta Gerwig), but she is more interested in Matt and views her friendship with Chad as platonic.
Unable to come up with any ideas, the couples bump heads and desires until Michelle has a dream that spawns Matt's idea for their movie: a killer who wears a bag over his head. And the films (theirs and ours) are off to the races from there.
Some funny moments, usually intentional, are scattered throughout, along with a few old-style jump-in-your-seat-and-scream scares. Shot on a very low budget, the eccentric camera angles and focus oddities are glaring for the first ten minutes, but by that point you've been sucked into the film, and they no longer matter.
Due to be released July 4, Baghead is one film you should look for. It isn't Citizen Kane, but it's lengths above much of the typical summer film selections. And, as the brothers pointed out in an after-screening Q&A session, the Hollywood horror picture has become nothing but blood and softcore porn and gore and torture. Baghead is a treat by comparison. Check it out!
Baghead centers around four friends in Los Angeles. Stuck in the fringe section of Hollywood, as extras in low-budget films which are shown at places like the fictional "Los Angeles Underground Film Festival", the pals (Matt, Chad, Michelle, and Catherine) decide to spend a weekend at Matt's uncle's cabin where they plan to brainstorm and write a movie. This movie, which would star the four of them, would hopefully be their ticket to move on to greater things.
The early portion of the plot deals mostly with the inter-relationship conflicts. Matt and Catherine (Ross Partridge and Elise Muller) are on-again-off-again romantic partners. Matt's friend Chad (Steve Zissis) has the hots for Michelle (Greta Gerwig), but she is more interested in Matt and views her friendship with Chad as platonic.
Unable to come up with any ideas, the couples bump heads and desires until Michelle has a dream that spawns Matt's idea for their movie: a killer who wears a bag over his head. And the films (theirs and ours) are off to the races from there.
Some funny moments, usually intentional, are scattered throughout, along with a few old-style jump-in-your-seat-and-scream scares. Shot on a very low budget, the eccentric camera angles and focus oddities are glaring for the first ten minutes, but by that point you've been sucked into the film, and they no longer matter.
Due to be released July 4, Baghead is one film you should look for. It isn't Citizen Kane, but it's lengths above much of the typical summer film selections. And, as the brothers pointed out in an after-screening Q&A session, the Hollywood horror picture has become nothing but blood and softcore porn and gore and torture. Baghead is a treat by comparison. Check it out!
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