Applecart (2015)
directed by: Dustin Mills
starring: Brandon Salkil, Erin Ryan, Dave Parker, Haley Jay Madison, Allison Eagan, Jodi Durian, Josh Miller
format: Online Screener
tagline: "We All Wear Masks"
(out of 5)
The Movie: Wow. One word. Applecart just blew me away. Much like Hornet's Sting and the Hell It Caused. Where does Dustin Mills summon this creativity? This movie knocked it not only out of the park but the damn ball landed in another park across state lines. We have four short stories all verbally silent with an interesting array of sounds and music thrown about. Often times opposite of what you think it should be. The movie begins with a woman masturbating. Dustin pulls erotic scenes such as this out of a hat for me. Meaning it's kind of magic because normally I'm just bored with this stuff. No not inappropriate, very appropriate depending on the movie but I just do not find a lot of sex and erotica interesting. Dustin blows that out of my mind. The shots he creates are spectacular and supersedes the average "boring" sex scenes with pure artistic talent on his behalf and those of his actors. The four short stories after our short introduction are "The Sleepover", "The Caretaker", "Dad", and "Let Me Show You Something". All four touch upon abuse of some kind. Taboo subjects such as incest, abortion, child abuse, abuse of the elderly, rape, this is not a movie for your grandmother!
The Gore: Well we have some blood. Bit of gore kind of. Not super needed here. Not really looking for it much. Dustin does his fair share with stuff like Her Name Was Torment. This one is just a bit different.
The Acting: The acting...hmmmm. My hesitation is not because I have to think about who did a good job and who was the weakest link. It reflects the challenge these young actors had performing not only without a voice, but without a face. Facial expression tells a story, sometimes better than words. In this film "We All Wear Masks" so other than eye expressions...which it had there were not a lot of ways for them to act out their emotions per the norm. All of them had to dig deep and perform in a manner none I'm sure were used to. There was no weakest link. The whole damn cast simply said, "Challenge Accepted" and did their finest. Yes I'm partial to this group but see for yourself because their really is nothing like it and these actors really pulled together and made it so.
The Script: Well in a speechless film dialogue falls but body and hand movements speaks loud here. Each story covers a treasure chest of perverse subjects and nails them perfectly. I will not go into spoilers here this kind of movie requires a fresh open mind. And I'm sure a lot will bash down on it for being too weird, too this, too that and I say fuck you don't watch anymore Dustin Mills movies because this is Dustin's world. Reflections of what is inside all of us and not ashamed. Bravo once again Mr. Mills, and bravo to Allison, Dave, Haley, Erin, Josh, Joni, and Brandon!
The Acting: The acting...hmmmm. My hesitation is not because I have to think about who did a good job and who was the weakest link. It reflects the challenge these young actors had performing not only without a voice, but without a face. Facial expression tells a story, sometimes better than words. In this film "We All Wear Masks" so other than eye expressions...which it had there were not a lot of ways for them to act out their emotions per the norm. All of them had to dig deep and perform in a manner none I'm sure were used to. There was no weakest link. The whole damn cast simply said, "Challenge Accepted" and did their finest. Yes I'm partial to this group but see for yourself because their really is nothing like it and these actors really pulled together and made it so.
No comments:
Post a Comment