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Tusk
Smith's second attempt at a genre other than comedy. His last effort Red State was Smith's homage to the Coen brothers, specifically their crime film Fargo. I applauded that film for being Smith's most ambitious film, taking him out of his comfort zone and always pulling the rug out from under me. I had no idea where he was going to take it and I was along for the ride. With Tusk we have Smith dipping his toes into the horror genre a bit further. This time he seems to be channeling more Cronenberg-esque with body mutilation, but knowing the history behind the creation of this project, I can't help but think the entire thing was a big joke.
A lot of what happens has to be seen to be believed. After seeing this, I have to ask people who have also seen it a simply question. Should this film have remained a smodcast idea? Was there enough story here to justify Smith making it? I asked myself these questions when the film would oddly throw in some flashbacks. One set of flashbacks are told in black and white from Parks' lifetime, while the other, in colour, belongs to Long. As mentioned earlier, the idea was from a smodcast that Smith and his long-time producing partner, Scott Mosier did and you can actually hear them talking about this idea near the end of the credits. They laugh at the ridiculousness of it all and ask fans to vote #WalrusYes #WalrusNo. Well, as you could have guessed, #WalrusYes won and we have our film. Tusk awkwardly tries to honour the original idea of it being a horror film, the grotesqueness of body horror and also try to be hilariously stupid at the same time. Smith doesn't balance this tone very well and the reason is the cameo performance from a Hollywood A-lister.
I'm not going to spoil who the actor is, but he plays the role so comedically over the top that I sat there thinking; did Smith give him 100% free range to do whatever the hell he wanted? I was on board with the seriousness of the film until he showed up, then it went off the rails in ways I can't even describe. Smith goes for an ambitious mixture of tone and I think he fails here. Played half for laughs and half for seriousness, I couldn't help but feel a little let down by it all.
I think the horror aspect works better than the comedy here. The humour here is lacking, especially with the Long character. He comes off as obnoxious and not funny, despite the numerous jokes he tries to throw out there. Does he deserve what he gets? That question is left in the viewers mind. Some people might make the argument that this film exists merely to give Parks a juicy role. Verbally eloquent, vaguely sinister, Parks spews his lines so well and with such gusto that he gives his performance in Red State a run for its money. It's one of the most successful elements of the film.
I am interested in Smith's career direction now. Red State and Tusk aren't receiving as much praise as his previous films, but the man is stepping out of his comfort zone to try something different. He's been accused of being a lazy filmmaker that only makes poop jokes. Not anymore, so I applaud him for this, he's finally making interesting films, good or bad, they are interesting.
Smith's second attempt at a genre other than comedy. His last effort Red State was Smith's homage to the Coen brothers, specifically their crime film Fargo. I applauded that film for being Smith's most ambitious film, taking him out of his comfort zone and always pulling the rug out from under me. I had no idea where he was going to take it and I was along for the ride. With Tusk we have Smith dipping his toes into the horror genre a bit further. This time he seems to be channeling more Cronenberg-esque with body mutilation, but knowing the history behind the creation of this project, I can't help but think the entire thing was a big joke.
A lot of what happens has to be seen to be believed. After seeing this, I have to ask people who have also seen it a simply question. Should this film have remained a smodcast idea? Was there enough story here to justify Smith making it? I asked myself these questions when the film would oddly throw in some flashbacks. One set of flashbacks are told in black and white from Parks' lifetime, while the other, in colour, belongs to Long. As mentioned earlier, the idea was from a smodcast that Smith and his long-time producing partner, Scott Mosier did and you can actually hear them talking about this idea near the end of the credits. They laugh at the ridiculousness of it all and ask fans to vote #WalrusYes #WalrusNo. Well, as you could have guessed, #WalrusYes won and we have our film. Tusk awkwardly tries to honour the original idea of it being a horror film, the grotesqueness of body horror and also try to be hilariously stupid at the same time. Smith doesn't balance this tone very well and the reason is the cameo performance from a Hollywood A-lister.
I'm not going to spoil who the actor is, but he plays the role so comedically over the top that I sat there thinking; did Smith give him 100% free range to do whatever the hell he wanted? I was on board with the seriousness of the film until he showed up, then it went off the rails in ways I can't even describe. Smith goes for an ambitious mixture of tone and I think he fails here. Played half for laughs and half for seriousness, I couldn't help but feel a little let down by it all.
I think the horror aspect works better than the comedy here. The humour here is lacking, especially with the Long character. He comes off as obnoxious and not funny, despite the numerous jokes he tries to throw out there. Does he deserve what he gets? That question is left in the viewers mind. Some people might make the argument that this film exists merely to give Parks a juicy role. Verbally eloquent, vaguely sinister, Parks spews his lines so well and with such gusto that he gives his performance in Red State a run for its money. It's one of the most successful elements of the film.
I am interested in Smith's career direction now. Red State and Tusk aren't receiving as much praise as his previous films, but the man is stepping out of his comfort zone to try something different. He's been accused of being a lazy filmmaker that only makes poop jokes. Not anymore, so I applaud him for this, he's finally making interesting films, good or bad, they are interesting.