By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Evan Glodell
Starring: Evan Glodell | Jessie Wiseman | Rebekah Brandes | Tyler Dawson | Vincent Grashaw
Country: united_states
Year: 2011
Running time: 106
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1242599/
Jason says: “The end of a relationship can certainly seem like the end of the world, and while BELLFLOWER is not explicitly post-apocalyptic, it takes a number of its cues from that direction. It’s not the first love story to do so, but it does an impressive job of hammering its particular point home: It may be easier to deal with the whole world falling apart than the end of things with that one other person.
“Woodrow (Evan Glodell) and Milly (Jessie Wiseman) don’t really meet cute, unless you count competing against each other in an insect-eating contest at the Mad Dog bar cute. They hit it off, though, and after a first date that involves driving from California to Texas for the worst diner food Woodrow has ever seen – which best friends Aiden (Tyler Dawson) and Courtney (Rebekah Brandes) don’t find hugely out of character, although it seems to annoy Milly’s roommate Mike (Vincent Grashaw) – things seem to be going pretty well. The thing is, when the people in a relationship either build flamethrowers in their copious spare time or have a long history of self-destructive behavior, two thing can happen: Either they’ll be a perfect match, or the end and fallout will be ugly. Maybe too ugly to make things right.
“BELLFLOWER makes a series of big-time right turns in the middle, and while they don’t completely come out of nowhere, their suddenness is as much a punch in the gut as it is fitting. The first half of the movie is a wild love story, full of impulses and grand gestures, but genuine enough to get the audience genuinely invested in Woodrow and Milly. Glodell and Wiseman have quick and excellent chemistry, and the characters complement each other well; even the audience that isn’t big on matching tattoos, modifying a car to dispense whiskey from its dashboard, or looking for trouble can appreciate the happy effect these two have on each other.
“As enjoyable as the first half of the movie is, it’s in the second when things get more interesting. Glodell writes and directs as well as playing the lead role, and what he goes for in the second half isn’t particularly subtle – Woodrow gains physical scars the match his emotional ones, and the generally likable guy from the first act is buried equally behind anger and hair. As simple as that is, it’s also effective, a straightforward but still affecting portrayal of heartbreak. Other members of the cast step up during this section as well: Tyler Dawson and Rebekah Brandes both give interesting, believable performances as friends doing their best to make things bearable, although it’s an open question as to whether they’re doing more harm than good in the long run.
“After all, when a friend is hurting, is modifying his car to shoot fire the best thing to do, really? Still, it’s hard to deny that Woodrow’s and Aiden’s custom vehicles give the movie a large dose of cool, especially Mother Medusa, the ultimate apocalypse survival car built and driven as the film goes on. Glodell and Dawson are genuine car guys who will proudly tell you that there is minimal effects trickery used in this movie – if they needed a car to shoot flames forty feet in the air, they built a car which could shoot flames forty feet in the air. They also built custom cameras and rigs, giving the movie a homemade, non-standardized feel. And while the movie and characters frequently cite Lord Humungus from Mad Max 2 (aka The Road Warrior), the environment more often recalls the first – a run-down world where people mostly behave in familiar ways but suddenly seem to have very little in the way of civilization holding them back once things get bad.
“That’s a heck of a rough place to be when things fall apart. BELLFLOWER isn’t really the post-apocalyptic action movie that some of its more striking imagery suggests, but it is one heck of a rough-and-tumble love story. 4 cats
“Seen 30 April 2011 in Somerville Theatre #3 (IFFBoston 2011)”
Julie says: “Wow. I loved this one. The premise is two friends spending all their free time building a flamethrower in the hopes the Apocalypse will occur and they can take control with their imaginary gang Mother Medusa. The beginning of the film lets on that the actions of these boys will most likely lead to some serious consequences. But we don’t know what, where or when.
“While the story does have a large focus on relationships and relationships lost, the idea of friendship is the true core of the film. The characters do seem to have an infinite amount of time, energy and money on their hands. In this world it is completely reasonable to be drinking beer with breakfast, after boozing it up the night before at a wild, fight filled party that followed an extended several day long road trip. With all this boozing and slacking these boys are amazingly alert and focused, with perfectly honed bodies to boot. Somehow this all makes sense and melds nicely with their fantasy Mad Max world. And this is the really neat aspect of the film, i.e. the fantasy world versus the reality world. Some stupendous action cinematography. Excellent choice of music to go with the various shots and moods.
“There’s also one interesting( at times funny) and subtle aspect of this film in how one of the characters turns out to be very different than you and everyone else in the story expects. There’s a lot of edge or your seat things happening in this one. In general, if you blink you might miss a thing or two. This is the kind of film that needs to be seen twice.
“Unrelated to the film per se, I have to also say, I loved BOTH cars in this movie. Can we add an award for best inanimate object ? If you see the special features you can learn all about Medusa. Pretty incredible car. I’d love to burn some rubber in that car! The director/star Evan Glodell built Medusa and also built some of his own cameras! Quite the renaissance man! He did get some help from a dude named Paul. One of the people credited as producer had the name of Paul. I guess it’s the same Paul? Not sure though. Also Joel’s dad (Joel Hodge was director of photography) John Brennen I believe his name was and Tony Polido (ya gotta love that name) helped with the switching out of engines. After they got some money from the film they added a 2000 turbo-charger to the car. Yowsa. 4.65 cats”
Toni says: “What did anyone in this film do for a living? It seemed surreal that they were in another world of hipster drinking and partying every day.
“The characters were irritating (I wanted to slap them) but real to people I have met that I can’t stand in a fantasy world to me…
“The twists and turns mid way made this into a very original film where I am still not sure what was happening.
“I agree the cars’ design were both quite impressive along with editing choices/stunts…
“Still need the film to simmer to determine Cat ratings but at least a 4 cats from me.”