@crumbsroom
I watched Relaxer yesterday, and saw that you had recently rated it and a few other Joel Potrykus films on LB. Curious to hear your thoughts. I'm not sure how I feel about Relaxer quite yet, beyond an overwhelming desire to fumigate my house. Certainly one of the stickiest films I've ever seen.
I watched Relaxer yesterday, and saw that you had recently rated it and a few other Joel Potrykus films on LB. Curious to hear your thoughts. I'm not sure how I feel about Relaxer quite yet, beyond an overwhelming desire to fumigate my house. Certainly one of the stickiest films I've ever seen.
I like movies that bring me places. They have a clear view of what they want to do and obstinately do it even if no one is going to want to come near it.
Relaxer is a deeply unpleasant watch. I could tell exactly what it was going to do within minutes and that it was going to be a rough ride. Not because it is violent, because it's not. Not because it is really even overwhelmingly gross. It's just that it demands you spend all of your time with the kind of guy who you wouldn't want sitting next to you on a bus.
But it doesn't flinch in its purpose, even if 90 percent of any audience will be completely alienated by what is happening. And then, as the movie continues, it becomes a bit of a marvel at how it can continuously reinventing what it can do with such a demented and annoying and repetitive premise.
While we certainly don't need another Relaxer in the world, we definitely need more movies this obsessive and weird and thoughtful about something that seems as if it is mostly designed to irritate. Once I got in its rhythms, I enjoyed it, as a person who likes film to reach those outer limits of expression. And all those Potrykus films do this to varying degrees. The Alchemist is even weirder and maybe even more alienating than Relaxer, but is so tonally wild it is a real trip (especially if you know nothing going on). And Buzzard is also really great and probably his funniest. The Thing in the....is just a short and I would have liked to see more of his penchant for pushing things long past their breaking point with that one, but as a little taste of what he does, it's good.
I haven't seen Ape yet, but it's clearly a must watch. This guy is someone to watch.