Tin Can Man

TIN CAN MAN
Writer/Director:Ivan Kavanagh
Starring:Michael Parle, Patrick O'Donnell
Availability:DVD available at most online retailers
Rating:

    I love mindfuck movies.  In fact, I love all movies that are weird, surreal, and bizarre.  Unfortunately, I see a large amount of people who use the word weird like it's a bad thing.  I say those people don't have any real imagination, because if you truly had one, you'd embrace the wild and the different.  You'd want to experience things that will challenge your mind, and show you the limitless possibilities of art.  The reason I bring this up is because Ivan Kavanagh's Tin Can Man is absolutely insane, and I mean that in the most loving way possible.  This is not a film that plays it safe, and it's not a film that's out to please its audience.  In fact, this is a movie that wants to stress you out.  It wants you to spend the entire 80 minutes absolutely distraught, and the fact that it achieves this is nothing sort of celebratory.

    Pete is in need of a break.  He's stuck in a job he hates.  His girlfriend just dumped him.  I mean, he seems to be a nice and reasonable man, so naturally, you're going to sort of feel for the guy.  One day, while moping about, he hears a knock at the door.  The man at the other end claims to be his neighbor, and asks if he can use his phone because he's been in an accident.  Pete hesitates, but being the nice guy that he is, submits to the request.  Right off the bat, you can tell the neighbor is a bit batty.  After getting off the phone, the man starts spouting off all sorts of insane rubbish, and this is when the film starts its downward spiral into madness.  Pete is clearly freaked out by the guy, who just won't seem to leave.  The man ends up taking Pete for a ride, and the events that follow are nothing less than the film equivalent of a walking nightmare.

    Michael Parle as the deranged neighbor is fucking brilliant in his role.  This is the type of performance that calls to mind Dennis Hopper's Frank from Blue Velvet.  At first, he seems quite friendly, but once he lets the menace show, all bets are off, and the man becomes absolutely frightening.  Patrick O'Donnell is also quite excellent in the role of Pete.  Pete is a man with no balls, and it's really no surprise that life has been so hard on him.  You sympathize with him, but you also truly believe his fear and confusion as the events surrounding him just become more bizarre and out of control.  The first 30 minutes of the film, with just the two men talking, provides some of the most chilling moments I've seen on film in quite some time.

    Naturally, many people have likened this film to the works of David Lynch, especially Eraserhead.  The black and white cinematography probably aids this comparison, but I think the comparison is lazy.  Not every surrealist movie is an extension of Lynch or Fellini.  In fact, this movie is much more minimalist than anything Lynch has done, and actually brings to mind the work of James Fotopoulos.  Comparisons be damned, though. This movie is absolutely an original piece of work, and there's no doubt that Kavanagh has a truly distinctive voice.  It's definitely unlike anything I've ever seen before, and I must say if you are one of us who appreciate the cinema of the weird, you owe it to yourself to check this bad boy out.

    Colin Downey's camerawork here is absolutely breathtaking.  The black and white looks gorgeous, and the angles and shot compositions add to the nightmarish feel, and bring the entire experience to life.  I also have to give some mad props to the sound design, as it creates an air of tension that might not have existed without it.  In fact, from a technical standpoint, this movie is nothing short of marvelous.  I'm not going to spoil the experiences that poor Pete suffers through, but I will say that by the time the movie reaches it's strange, subdued, oddly fitting ending, you will feel like you have experienced everything Pete has experienced.  This is a movie that melts inside your brain, and once it gets inside, you're going to have a hell of a time shaking it out.  This one's a real beauty.

    Until next time, my fellow freaks and weirdos...