Obligatory opening statement: I live in Austin and this film has been hyped around here. I've always tried to give "local" filmmakers the benefit of the doubt and favorable reviews, but this one just dragged on too long and the payoff wasn't there for me.
Video quality was way below average, intentionally given the director's (and main subject's) choice of camera - which is also one of the main topics and underlying reasons for the film being made in the first place. Still, it got tiresome watching the grainy VHS quality footage often aimed at the director from somewhere on a dirty floor, often with his (rather cool and dog-like) cat entering the frame to explore.
I didn't share the filmmaker's interest in the other subject/object of his movie either. The guy up in New York may have a crazy history in the bodybuilding world and he is definitely a "character" - but I saw nothing from the footage that the director happened upon in a camera purchased on eBay to really pique my interest in the guy. Only later is the audience fully clued into the coincidence that prompted our director's emotional and nostalgic attraction to this particular person.
I won't provide any spoilers as far a "plot" and "twists" go, but I will say that there's a rather disturbing montage in about the middle of the film that only bears a very, very tenuous metaphorical connection to the story. Further, this montage is nothing anyone who has spent hours on YouTube probably hasn't already seen in various portions as bits and pieces. But OK, we get it, I guess.
All in all, this was a waste of time for me. A long-ish, tone poem and metaphorical way for a person to grieve the loss of loved ones, with whom even the director himself admits he had, for much of his still young life, an intentionally loose and irregular relationship. Yes it's a horrible thing that happened, a life and a fate that nobody deserves by way of an incredibly rare and uncommonly cruel genetic disorder. That makes it harder for me to say what I'm about to say, but I've got to say it. The whole thing smacks of a (rather mature and demure, FWIW) millennial's attempt to make his first feature length film. It lacked genuineness to me, and I suppose that may be as much on me as it is on the director.
If you're looking for entertainment and/or a tear-jerking meditation on overcoming sadness and grief, there are plenty of better films.
5.5/10
Video quality was way below average, intentionally given the director's (and main subject's) choice of camera - which is also one of the main topics and underlying reasons for the film being made in the first place. Still, it got tiresome watching the grainy VHS quality footage often aimed at the director from somewhere on a dirty floor, often with his (rather cool and dog-like) cat entering the frame to explore.
I didn't share the filmmaker's interest in the other subject/object of his movie either. The guy up in New York may have a crazy history in the bodybuilding world and he is definitely a "character" - but I saw nothing from the footage that the director happened upon in a camera purchased on eBay to really pique my interest in the guy. Only later is the audience fully clued into the coincidence that prompted our director's emotional and nostalgic attraction to this particular person.
I won't provide any spoilers as far a "plot" and "twists" go, but I will say that there's a rather disturbing montage in about the middle of the film that only bears a very, very tenuous metaphorical connection to the story. Further, this montage is nothing anyone who has spent hours on YouTube probably hasn't already seen in various portions as bits and pieces. But OK, we get it, I guess.
All in all, this was a waste of time for me. A long-ish, tone poem and metaphorical way for a person to grieve the loss of loved ones, with whom even the director himself admits he had, for much of his still young life, an intentionally loose and irregular relationship. Yes it's a horrible thing that happened, a life and a fate that nobody deserves by way of an incredibly rare and uncommonly cruel genetic disorder. That makes it harder for me to say what I'm about to say, but I've got to say it. The whole thing smacks of a (rather mature and demure, FWIW) millennial's attempt to make his first feature length film. It lacked genuineness to me, and I suppose that may be as much on me as it is on the director.
If you're looking for entertainment and/or a tear-jerking meditation on overcoming sadness and grief, there are plenty of better films.
5.5/10
