Cutoff

A pretentious stoner struggling with the aimlessness of life finds his filthy apartment invaded by a disturbing presence ... Well, I didn't get this, and I suspect there was nothing to get. It starts out promising, with clever observations of the post-modern kind and an unsettling, atonal soundtrack. Then there's some quick-fire dialogue with a heart-of-gold *, but even at that stage the promise fades. Even allowing for the micro-budget restrictions, there's not a lot of craft on display: framing of shots and editing are very basic, and the sound design is disappointing given this is the baby of a movie composer. The figure of the disturbing presence is simple but original, yet so over emphasized that it loses its disturbiness. There is a theme in the replacement of the musical work with distressing noises, but not well worked out. Biggest problem is the screenplay has little structure, doesn't play with structure, and uses way too much dialogue - I actually didn't care how it ended. The role of the *, who was well played by the actor, fizzles out mysteriously and without pay-off. The story doesn't even serve as a plain tale of substance abuse, so it's very much a work in progress and shouldn't have had a green light from the producers. I recommend a look at Wild In Blue to see how to lay down substance for this kind of project. I watched The Sonata a few weeks ago in the hope it would address the musical tritone in a visual way, but it didn't even go there. Same with this experience, which I twigged with the line: "A something ... F something." Overall: a try, but not a nice try.