And a happy April Fool's to everyone. So far today I've tried convincing unsuspecting friends that:
- I am a time-traveller from the future.
- I was bitten by a strange dog and now think I might be becoming a werewolf.
- I was recently married and divorced and have been taking it very hard.
Oy ......
- So, man, what is with the rut in movies lately? It's hard to believe it's already April and aside from a couple of badass action-flick throwbacks in Rambo and Doomsday, there's been very little in the way of quailty cinema so far this year. Wasn't it only a few months ago that we were overwhelmed with an overabundance of great movies? I can only hope that Forgetting Sarah Marshall will be a top-notch comedy when it's released in a few weeks, because lord knows we need one.
That being said, the current movie rut has given a bit of an opportunity to seek out some lesser-known releases and give them a shot. One such small-release movie that I saw this past weekend was an indie mockumentary called American Zombie.
AMERICAN ZOMBIE Review:
- One of my favorite niche genres in film has always been the mocumentary. Mostly, this is because of the brilliantly hilarious work of Christopher Guest, who made three instant comedy classics in Waiting For Guffman, Best In Show, and A Mighty Wind. Similarly, I've always loved the combination of horror and comedy - whether its Sam Raimi's Evil Dead movies, the Simpsons' Halloween episodes, or even The Munsters. There's just something about mixing creepiness with comedy that goes down smooth. So I was definitely curious about American Zombie, a mockumentary that imagines a world in which the living dead are essentially just another minority in the melting pot that is America. They're dead and they're proud of it, and they just want to be looked at as normal people, just like you and I, albeit with slightly rotting flesh. Of course, some normals have the sneaking suspicion that their zombie neighbors are hungry for more than just equal rights. Some believe that just as in the movies, the zombies are a dangerous lot intent on snacking on humans whenever possible. So which is it - are the zombies just average joes, or vile monsters? Documentarian Grace Lee sets out to answer this question, and the result is an entertaining though slightly uneven film that, if anything, is a clever send-up of documentaries and the lengths they'll go to to paint a fair portrait of their subjects.
The background here is that the real-life Grace Lee is a noted documentary filmmaker who, in the past, has mostly tackled very serious subjects, often making films with strong social causes. It's interesting then to see her take that same type of formula and apply it to a movie that in execution IS a serious social documentary, but in reality is a tongue-in-cheek parody of the genre. In the movie, Grace Lee plays an exaggerated version of herself - the mind behind the documentary, intent on creatign a fair portrayal of Southern California's local zombie population. John Solomon also plays himself, a kind of Mulder to Lee's Scully. He is intent on exposing the truth rather than simply being fair. His suspicions? That zombies are in fact flesh-eating monsters who are a menace to society. Soon enough, it becomes clear that, as normal-seeming as the average-joe zombies that we follow around appear to be, John's suspicions, repeatedly rebuked by Lee, are more than likely correct. But in the name of doing right by this supposedly oppressed minority, Lee insists that they paint a rosy picture of their undead subjects.
It's a really interesting premise, to be sure. The various zombie subjects that we meet are all pretty fascinating characters. Particular standouts include Jane Edith Wilson as a passive-aggressive zombie who bottles up her rage at with her obnoxious neighbors, and Suzy Nakamura as a scrapbook-obsessed, socially-awkward shut-in whose zombie status is the least of her problems when it comes to finding a man. One problem though lies in the fact that the acting is a bit uneven. Grace Lee and John Solomon do a good job playing fictional versions of themselves, and Lee is pretty effective at playing things totally straight no matter how absurd they get. But while the two aforementioned zombie actresses are pretty good, some of the other zombie characters are a bit up-and-down.
Part of the problem is that Lee never seems quite sure how funny she wants her movie to be. While this is clearly a comedy and a parody, things are often played a little too straight. The stretches of flatness are compounded by the fact that only a few of the actors are really able to make their lines work with the type of self-mocking with required of this type of film. People like Fred Willard, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, and Parker Posey come to mind as actors who can totally nail the deadpan, mock-serious tone I'm thinking of, and it's why Christopher Guest uses them over and over. Because Grace Lee doesn't have quite the same knack for comedy, her humor often gets buried ... no pun intended. You can also see her weaknesses as a *fictional* filmmaker exposed. Unlike in a real documentary, this type of crazy horror premise requires a little thought put into the whole mythology aspect of its universe. When did the zombies first begin to rise? How were they accepted? How do they seem to be a mystery to so many people when they work in convenience stores and factories? I mean look, it's a comedy, I dont' need a whole bible detailing the history of the zombie uprising -- but this movie's zombie-centric premise raises a TON of questions that are never really addressed, and for that reason there's often huge logic gaps in the narrative, which is where they ultimately become noticable and distracting.
As the film progresses, there's a gradual shift from pure comedy to horror, and I give Lee credit in that she does a great job of shifting the atmosphere from farce to frightful, to the point where, when the $%#* really begins to hit the fan, it is genuinely pretty disturbing and creepy stuff. Still, the tonal shift does kind of highlight the fact that for all of its potential, this is a pretty uneven movie that, like I said earlier, never seems quite sure what it wants to be or what point it wants to make. The fact that Lee applies the template of her more serious documentary films to an over-the-top, fictional concept in zombies makes for an inherently cool premise, rife with potential for hilarity and horror. And while it's a fun, enjoyable, at times funny, at times creepy flick, it never quite realizes that full potential. Still, in a spring season filled with generic lameness at the box office, you can't go wrong with a little dose of zom-com quirkiness. If it's playing near you (likely only if you're in LA or NYC), or when it comes out on DVD this summer, give it a shot.
My Grade: B
- Alright, that's all for now. Well, except for the news that I just got a big promotion, and am now sixteenth in line to run NBC.
April Fool's.
I mean, um ... okay, April Fool's.
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