The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards

I don't think this movie is for everyone. I like short stories and short stories about reality so it worked for me. Some movies are not meant to be fun or "enjoyed" in a way we may be accustomed to. Some are about reflection. This was just short snippets of events in the lives of various people. I found it interesting and worth the watch. You aren't going to get a full story. You are going to have to make your own inferences and decide what that means to you.

1. Awful. 2. Awful. 3. Awful. 4. Awful. 5. Awful. 6. Awful. 7. Awful.

Seven unconnected stories that offer a fascinating look at human nature.

Generally, I enjoy movies of this type. It seems there is usually something revelatory, insperational, heartbreaking or satisfying. This has NONE OF THAT. I feel like I just sat next to a drunk that rambles incessantly. The stories may, MAY have a somewhat interesting premise, but they go nowhere. I don't even believe the people in the stories think that they are worth telling. After the second vignette, I quit looking for substance in the storytelling and started looking for camera angles, lighting, lens choices or anything. As I am not a film student apart from the roughly 5000 movies I've seen,I kicked rocks.

I really admire this film. Well put together. It really worked for me. The interludes are fascinating. I was admittedly mildly distracted by the big names in the cast, but the quality of the acting made a huge difference - done by lesser actors it could've been rubbish. I've seen their contributions referred to as cameos, but to put it that way is to deliberately ignore the short-story structure of the film. The characters are enjoyable. Very individual and very real. The first story was perhaps the least tangible, which made it difficult for me to get past, and in that instance, I felt I needed more, but the others worked really nicely. Although the film works as a cumulative piece, especially if you can pause and have a bit of a think, for reach and accessibility I'd like to see it broken up into the seven parts and put on YouTube. I doubt whether anybody involved had realistic notions of garnering a high score on a review site or making a financial killing, but it is so good that someone is bringing what literature can do, to film. It is a film that makes me want to read the book, some other works by Robert Boswell, or watch some of James Franco's other recent attempts at literary conversion.