Brick and Tarnation

Watched two strange films today. First of a free viewing courtesy of GC of "Brick" at the Duke of York's ,billed as a teen noir,and on DVD this evening "Tarnation". Two films i highly recommend and fro differnet reasons.Afterwards watched more of the engrossing sci-fi drama "Invasion" on Channel 4 and E4 - also getting weirder as the drama unfolds.

The film "Brick" has a David Lynch feel to it with weird going-ons in the underbelly of American society.It needs more than one viweing to really get into and the lingua franca is subculturally heavy with teen-speak and up-to-the-minute words for drugs and people,etc such as "pin" for "Kingpin", MIA (Missing in action),and so on. However despite my initial reservations it is one that i would see again.

By the way i guess the EB is a pin.

"Tarnation" is just strange but compelling. This is a raw extremely personal display of self-destruction and rebirth. Using iMovie software and reputedly only made for $218 the film interweaves a psychedlic whirlwind of snapshots,Super 8 Home movies,answering machine messages,video diaries,snippets of 80's pop culture and dramatic re-enactments to create an epic portrait and love letter to the filmaker's mother Renee,who spent most of her youth undergoing unnnessary electro-shock treatment. It is visually audacious with undiluted emotion,and although reminiscent of the work of David Lynch and avant-garde artists like Stan Brakhage,Jonathan Caoulette has defined a highly original approach to documentaries and film-making in general. RECOMMENDED.

One series i have yet to see but been critically acclaimed (apparently) is "Lost".

Others weird off-kilter films i have enjoyed are "Crumb", "Donnie Darko"