the_other_kinsey_institute

My frustration with this film comes from its trailer. I feel like I was promised a thriller and mystery. What I got was Ingrid Bergman's Winter Light, updated and Americanized. It is beautifully shot-I will grant that-but horribly edited. It's almost like the filmmakers were so in love with the scenery, they forgot to tell a story.

It is a drama, with nothing at all mysterious or thrilling in it, and so we have this slow-moving, predictable story with characters going nowhere. If the trailer had just been honest about this film being a drama, maybe I could have been more moved by the internal struggle of the main character.

The saddest part of all this is that the film's commentary on religious life in America seems spot-on and interesting. Shame it got drowned out by tons of establishing shots.

Written, directed by and starring Coleman Francis--it doesn't get any worse than this. This film is literally a step-by-step guide on how NOT to make a film. In my kinder moments, I think that perhaps they were trying to be artistic, but it just doesn't work. No plot, no continuity, no character development, no acting, no framing, no composition. Even the sound is crap but that's okay because no one really says anything approaching relevance or a story.

The only thing that really puzzles me is how in the world John Carradine got roped into making an appearance? For that matter, his scene doesn't make a bit of sense to the rest of the movie, so maybe they lied to him and told him the movie was about something else?

All in all, I believe Crow T. Robot said it best: 'I want to hurt this film, but I know I can never hurt it as much as it's hurt me.' So true, Crow, so true.