Bug

I just feel I need to give this movie the props it deserves. It is such a terribly underrated and obscured film.

Bug (2006) is directed by William Friedkin and based on a critically acclaimed play by Tracy Letts.

The film maintains the sparse and claustrophobic feel of its stage pedigree-- it takes place almost entirely in a run down Oklahoma motel room.

It begins as a dramatic character study and evolves into a psychological horror film, where the viewer is not quite certain what is meant to be real or unreal. The final 20 or 25 minutes are over the top, but totally engrossing, and only leave you asking more questions. Although the meaning of the film is not overstated and spoon fed to us like typical Hollywood pap, one can get a pretty good idea of what is going on if he devotes the respectful attention this great film deserves.

I viewed it the second time tonight and came away having cemented what I already assumed-- it is in my top 10 films of the decade. It's something of a genre bender as well.

Please check out this movie if you are looking for an intense character study that grows more extreme as it unfolds; and one with great acting and dialogue.

It's definitely something different.

__________________

I was very impressed w/this one as well. A nice portrait of the persuasive, convincing nature of paranoid belief systems. That Michael Shannon is intense. I love this sort of film that is confined to one basic set & there isnt a lot of variation in the environment. Generally this seems to demand a greater quality of writing to carry & sustain the film. If done well, they are riveting. A couple of other films which immediately spring to mind that do something similar are Tape (2001), which is brilliant, & one I just watched this past weekend, Wait Until Dark (1967).

& the excessive conclusion in Bug did not bother me. I thought it was the only place for it to go.

__________________
I confess I have yet to learn that a lesson of the purest good may not be drawn from the vilest evil. -- Charles Dickens

I wish I could have enjoyed it like you guys did. I thought it was torture. I do agree about Tape, though. I really loved that one; one of my favorite underrated films.

I like to think I'm smart, but you know, Bug seemed like it was over my head. I just could not understand what I was watching, and unfortunately, I didn't want to rewatch it because I felt nothing for the characters and I didn't connect -- either emotionally or intellectually.

I really wanted to like it, too... I used to post on a board where one of the moderators was the film editor. He was proud of that film and I wanted very much to like it.