Reviewed by Lamar Kukuk
3/18/10
Reviewed based on a DVD
screener provided by the studio
Low budget filmmaking is
ridiculously difficult in the execution, but in the big picture sense,
it's really easy: find something people like that exists primarily
in the realm of ideas. Ideas, after all, are free. And that
makes the “what the hell is going on here?” thriller a perfect low-budget
genre. Ask an intriguing question and then keep the tension up while
making the audience wait for the answer. It also helps if you know
what you're doing to the point that your movie, while it is cheap, doesn't
look it: pretty pictures have a way of being their own production
values. Those two virtues are the foundation of Minos Papas' feature
directorial debut, Shutterbug, an utterly fascinating movie to look
at while you wait for it to get around to telling you what the hell's going
on. This is one of those metaphysical thrillers of emotion that,
even once all its answers are on the table, is more easily felt than understood,
but Shutterbug's story can also be viewed as a simple excuse to
set a mood, something Papas does quite skillfully. Fans of photography
and Dante's Inferno will find the movie to be of special interest,
but anybody who likes being kept off balance will find plenty here to test
their equilibrium.
Alex Santiago (Nando Del
Castillo) is a successful photographer in a deep state of ennui.
Bored by his commercial shoots, screwing things up with his girlfriend
Barbara (Ariel Blue Sky) and unable to find inspiring new images on the
streets of New York, he plays chicken with the sun while shooting the sunrise
and hurts his eyes. Soon, he's seeing spots no doctor can explain,
spots that begin to form themselves into the image of a woman (Stanislava
Stoyanova) who actually shows up in his pictures. The mystery tugs
at him, and he seeks the advice of a psychic (Anna Gutto). She refers
him to a mystery man with all the answers, but Alex must trek through bad
parts of town in the middle of the night to get them. It won't be
easy: while the mystery woman leads him toward the truth, it's clear
that the City that Never Sleeps is full of strange characters intent on
keeping him from it.
It's remarkable to learn
that Shutterbug's budget was so low that the filmmakers used bicycles
as dollies and powered equipment with their car batteries because the movie
looks great. Papas and cinematographer Rossana Rizzo have shot their
film with a painter's eye (or perhaps a photographer's?) for composition,
detail and color, and there's a lot of tension in even its most static
images. And that's a big deal, because the movie takes its time before
the plot begins to emerge, and self-absorbed Alex is far from the world's
most likable protagonist. And once things do start to happen, the
movie's visual intensity kept me involved as one weird thing after another
transpires. We wonder, just as Alex does, “Where could all this possibly
be headed?” And, to Papas' credit, the connection between the spots
in his eyes and the mystery woman is both clever and thematically rich.
And it gives you food for thought about what that long, strange night in
NYC was really all about, a question the movie doesn't answer but clearly
knows the answer to.
Alex's wandering makes up
the longest portion of the movie, and truth be told probably goes on a
bit too long as he has threatening conversations with one unnatural weirdo
after another. But the level of unease in those scenes is quite high
and they never do get dull. Because the movie is so visual, it's
appropriate that a lot of Alex's surreal encounters in this Wonderland
involve conversations about appearances and the connection between what
we see and objective reality. That's Shutterbug's game, and
everything that happens in the story is ultimately some sort of “trick
of light”, just like photography. Exactly what kind, well, that's
for the viewer to decide. The more you enjoy putting the pieces of
a cinematic puzzle together as you watch, the more you'll like this movie.
Del Castillo does a solid
job as a character we could have stood a little more of an “in” to.
In fact, once he runs out of people to tell that nothing matters to him
but his art, the actor's charisma kicks in and makes the befuddled wanderer
on a mission to get us some answers an effective center to the story.
Before that, it's Ariel Blue Sky who shoulders the weight of giving us
someone to care about, and the NY DJ is quite compelling in her film debut.
Doug Barron is also good as Alex's weary manager, and we sense this isn't
the first time he spent an evening tracing the steps of a client on a metaphysical
odyssey. Most of the other performances are playing to the back of
the theater, sometimes to better effect (Frank Cadillac as a lonely exterminator,
Ashley Thayer as a sultry girl in a bar) than others (Ivo Velon, who crosses
the line between mannered and mush-mouthed as the mysterious guardian of
a bridge Alex needs to cross).
I can pretty much guarantee
that you won't figure out where Shutterbug is headed until Alex's
journey reaches its destination. The last scene strains a little
too hard for effect, but the rest of the reveal is quite satisfying.
The movie requires a patient viewer sufficiently interested in its visual
storytelling style (it's a movie you could really frame and put on a wall)
to let it unfold at its own pace and a willingness to go wherever a fairly
unique plot decides to take them. If you enjoy the sensation of thinking
“Wha-?” even after you think you understand the story, Shutterbug will
reward quite a few repeat viewings. On the other hand, if you're
easily confused by a film that never lets the laws of time and space get
in the way of a good story... at least there's plenty of pretty pictures
to keep you busy. |
