Odd wee film, quite low key, clearly tight on budget. Henry Rollins anchors the whole thing rather well as the main character, a slightly dishevelled man named Jack.
Jack lives a very quiet life. Keeps to himself, doesn't like company. He sleeps a lot, goes to a diner regularly, walks the streets of an urban area somewhere in the United States, and for some odd reason he likes to pop in to his local church. Oh, and he meets an intern wearing scrubs semi-regularly and purchases well-wrapped parcels out of the intern's car boot. He's a man of very few words.
Everything is quiet - the way Jack likes it - until a young woman comes looking for him. Shortly after her, a couple of young men come knocking at Jack's door looking for the intern, and then it all goes to hell, for everybody...
It's billed as a comedy horror. It's light on the horror element, the comedy is infrequent, absolutely deadpan, and sometimes hilarious, but where this movie really works is as a depiction of just what it could mean to be immortal. This is set up very clearly in the opening shots via the soundtrack. It's clear that Jack is plagued by memories, but we never see them. The audience only hears them, and has to imagine what could be going on.
It avoids the usual mistakes found in indie films. There's no dead time, no long, moody shots with nobody talking. Scenes get straight to the point. Every shot is tight, with nothing in frame that isn't needed.
Unfortunately that very tight cinematography is the movie's greatest weakness. There basically aren't any wide, scene-setting shots. The locations just don't feel connected to each other. There's never a wider sense of the city itself, or of characters moving from one location to another.
There's also an awful lot of generic going on in this movie. Locations, bad guys, incidental characters... too many of them are cookie-cutter stampouts. If the movie was a bit more specific, a bit more grounded, it'd make much more of an impact.
Very original take on the jaded immortal storyline, though. Watching Jack waking up to the world again is where this really shines.
Good but not great low-key alternative fare.
Jack lives a very quiet life. Keeps to himself, doesn't like company. He sleeps a lot, goes to a diner regularly, walks the streets of an urban area somewhere in the United States, and for some odd reason he likes to pop in to his local church. Oh, and he meets an intern wearing scrubs semi-regularly and purchases well-wrapped parcels out of the intern's car boot. He's a man of very few words.
Everything is quiet - the way Jack likes it - until a young woman comes looking for him. Shortly after her, a couple of young men come knocking at Jack's door looking for the intern, and then it all goes to hell, for everybody...
It's billed as a comedy horror. It's light on the horror element, the comedy is infrequent, absolutely deadpan, and sometimes hilarious, but where this movie really works is as a depiction of just what it could mean to be immortal. This is set up very clearly in the opening shots via the soundtrack. It's clear that Jack is plagued by memories, but we never see them. The audience only hears them, and has to imagine what could be going on.
It avoids the usual mistakes found in indie films. There's no dead time, no long, moody shots with nobody talking. Scenes get straight to the point. Every shot is tight, with nothing in frame that isn't needed.
Unfortunately that very tight cinematography is the movie's greatest weakness. There basically aren't any wide, scene-setting shots. The locations just don't feel connected to each other. There's never a wider sense of the city itself, or of characters moving from one location to another.
There's also an awful lot of generic going on in this movie. Locations, bad guys, incidental characters... too many of them are cookie-cutter stampouts. If the movie was a bit more specific, a bit more grounded, it'd make much more of an impact.
Very original take on the jaded immortal storyline, though. Watching Jack waking up to the world again is where this really shines.
Good but not great low-key alternative fare.