...whether the endeavor proves successful, or garnishes failure, it's actually sometimes interesting to see a filmmaker attempt to concoct feature films in his or her repertoire, under different...sometimes
drastically different genres. The act of trying out something
outside of one's normally assumed genre...like putting on an alternate overcoat, in a style totally unexpected...for whatever reason...self-arrogance...boredom...creatively wanting to get something off the chest...confidence in one's self, in working out of the norm...it all goes right down to, it's a matter of 'if you are going to do this, you better get it right, or you'll alienate your core audience" (...although there have been countless directors, who have done this very thing, one cannot help but call attention to one of the latest, Kevin Smith, and the mixed results of his break from the norm, "Red State"). However, given a
fledgling filmmaker's tendency to do this...to try on different genres...one cannot help but think that the director isn't really sure what he or she wants to do or say, and conjecture inclined, might lead to believe that he's/she's letting the criticism and/or acclaim for his work, drive that filmmaker toward what he or she may prove best at...and yes, ironically, this is in a world where seasoned
and untried filmmakers seem to want to strive to break away from their norm, do something that's unconventionally original and different...something deep inside, which they want to say, or a vision, which they want to show...damned be the critics, in the interim...
...oh, Hollywood!! You're so...odd...
...but then, so is this very much contrasting pairing of independents, the humorous "Red Flag", and it's dramatically tense co-feature, "Rubberneck"...both produced, directed and starring actor, and now filmmaker Alex Karpovsky; and yet, while very much odd, this two-fer may not be as opposingly different, as the premises might suggest...
...in "Red Flag", it seems that Alex is engaging a bit of fictional adventure about himself...a young and aspiring filmmaker, named Alex, no less. Moving out of his estranged girlfriend's apartment...where there seems to be a good measure of emotional tension, even with the dog...Alex takes to the road, bound for the art-house theaters & school auditoriums of several cities, during which he plans to hustle his latest film production, a trite little bit of celluloid, called "Woodpecker" (...as "Red Flag" is 'fictionally auto-biographical', for lack of a better term, one might be amused to find that filmmaker Karpovsky actually
does has a film in his repertoire, called "Woodpecker"...Go Figure, huh). On route, Alex engages a wayward and (...to him) disposable tryst with one of his film's viewers, a bubble-headed young gal named River (Jennifer Prediger); despite Alex having spurned the gal, River still makes a curious, obsessed groupie-like effort to covertly travel across country, to Alex's next screening...
...along the way, Alex joins forces with his scraggly-bearded, greying author friend, Henry (Onur Tukel), who writes children's books; in abruptly meeting up with River, again, Alex makes it a point to crush her, in reiterating that their encounter was nothing. Before River can come to emotional terms with having been duly heart-broken, Henry picks up the broken pieces, and in a very short time, forms a close, mutual rapport with River...much to the dismay of Alex. However, deception does sometimes come with a price, and as Alex continues forth on his tour, with Henry and River in tour...and in seeing the emotional benefit of a mutual supportive relationship, yet at the same time, being underliningly embarrassed in Henry and River's company, Alex pleadingly calls upon his ex-girlfriend, Rachel (Caroline White) to not only to come out and support him, but also, to suggest overdue commitment. And once these players converge...well, of course, that's where the troubles start...
...and yes, most of these proceedings genuinely play off as funny, surprisingly enough...not wholly, laugh-out-loud funny, but the type of subtle humor one might find in films directed and written by James L. Brooks or Woody Allen. The funnier moments seem to come across, in the midst of the Alex character's wayward emotional moments, or in his tendency to exude deadpan slow-burn facial expressions, when he finds himself in the midst of an embarrassing and/or unbelievable situation, or if the situation he counters, fails to compute in his mind. And yet, despite the interesting character play, and the humorously reactive moments with Karpovsky's character, one cannot help but walk away unsatisfied with these proceedings...
...in "Rubberneck", the dramatic humor take a forced back seat to something more stylishly dramatic, complex and subtly thrilling. Once again in a starring role, Alex Karpovsky plays an awkward-spoken, bespectacled research scientist named Paul, who in the unfolding of this tale, finds himself drawn to a new, and quite attractive research associate, Danielle (Jamie Ray Newman); coercing her into a steamy trist, which proves unsatisfying and negligible for the girl, Paul is taken aback, when Danielle drops him like a rock off a cliff...but Paul refuses to relent, for weeks on, insistent that they still have something special, despite repeatedly suggestive word from friends and family, that he just move on. Eventually, Paul stalking tendencies move over to acting in recklessly enraged jealousy, when a handsome and attractive new intern makes some moves on Danielle...and proves more successful than Paul. Of course, Paul isn't gonna have any of that, and as such, in emotionally enraged reciprocation, he enacts drastic measures, in taking matters into his own hands...
...the better of the two films, "Rubberneck" attempts a low-brow manipulation, as far as thrillers go, and genuinely succeeds, within the limitations of the film's low-budget curbing...not anywhere near the level of, say Hitchcock, but respectable, nonetheless. It was also much more interesting to see that Alex Karpovsky wrote himself a much more original, complex and multi-faceted character here, instead of merely 'playing himself', as he did in "Red Flag". Toward the end of these tension-filled proceedings, one cannot help but empathically feel the stress of Karpovsky's character, Paul, who in violently acting in desperation, has to decide what to do with himself, now that things have gotten way out of control...
...two interesting little pieces of moderate diversion...at first glance, quite opposing of one another...again, suggesting that the filmmaker clearly has something to say...something to show, in two different genres...but upon closer scrutinization, may seem to most viewers as having a certain 'tit for tat', shoe's-on-the-other-foot ironic symmetry with each other. In the end, it's the characters presented, and their dramatic interaction, which makes this eclectic double feature worth checking out...
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