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THE CHUMSCRUBBER
The suicide of a teenage drug dealer is the springboard for a bizarre black comedy/suburban soap opera called The Chumscrubber, a cinematic acid trip that defies logic, turns the stomach, and had me completely riveted for its entire running time.
The film features multiple storylines with intersecting characters but the primary story revolves around Dean, the best friend of the victim, who discovered the body and walked out of the house without telling anyone. The story also revolves around a botched kidnapping by some kids who want to get hold of the victim's stash, an uptight interior decorator preparing for her wedding to the mayor, who has some "issues". The mother of the victim, who is telling anyone will listen that they are not to blame for her son's death and Dean's parents, a self-absorbed author who wants to put his son on medication and his mother, a woman guilt-ridden because she didn't bring the mother of the victim a casserole.
Director and screenwriter Arie Posin breaks all the rules for cinematic storytelling in a story that requires attention and is rich with bizarre characters who have no idea that they are bizarre. The film sets up characters who are initially sympathetic but then has them do things that make it hard to sympathize with them. We watch other characters who are being manipulated, cuckolded, and hoodwinked and have no idea what is happening to them. We have parents who have no idea where their children are or what they're doing and children who take full advantage of that. This movie had me squirming, gasping, laughing, fighting tears, but never fighting boredom.
Posin also scored with an impressive cast of actors who completely commit to this hot mess of a story. Jamie Bell (so memorable in Billy Elliott) makes an intense Dean and Glenn Close effortlessly walks the line between heartbreaking and creepy as the mother of the victim. Also loved William Fichtner and Allison Janney as Dean's parents and I don't think I have ever enjoyed Rita Wilson on screen more as the tightly wound bride to be or Ralph Fiennes as her dotty fiancee. The camerawork and editing is a little dizzying at times, but it actually seems to fuel this bizarre, nonsensical, yet richly entertaining story. Fans of the movie Alpha Dog and of the TV series Desperate Housewives will definitely have a head start here.
The suicide of a teenage drug dealer is the springboard for a bizarre black comedy/suburban soap opera called The Chumscrubber, a cinematic acid trip that defies logic, turns the stomach, and had me completely riveted for its entire running time.
The film features multiple storylines with intersecting characters but the primary story revolves around Dean, the best friend of the victim, who discovered the body and walked out of the house without telling anyone. The story also revolves around a botched kidnapping by some kids who want to get hold of the victim's stash, an uptight interior decorator preparing for her wedding to the mayor, who has some "issues". The mother of the victim, who is telling anyone will listen that they are not to blame for her son's death and Dean's parents, a self-absorbed author who wants to put his son on medication and his mother, a woman guilt-ridden because she didn't bring the mother of the victim a casserole.
Director and screenwriter Arie Posin breaks all the rules for cinematic storytelling in a story that requires attention and is rich with bizarre characters who have no idea that they are bizarre. The film sets up characters who are initially sympathetic but then has them do things that make it hard to sympathize with them. We watch other characters who are being manipulated, cuckolded, and hoodwinked and have no idea what is happening to them. We have parents who have no idea where their children are or what they're doing and children who take full advantage of that. This movie had me squirming, gasping, laughing, fighting tears, but never fighting boredom.
Posin also scored with an impressive cast of actors who completely commit to this hot mess of a story. Jamie Bell (so memorable in Billy Elliott) makes an intense Dean and Glenn Close effortlessly walks the line between heartbreaking and creepy as the mother of the victim. Also loved William Fichtner and Allison Janney as Dean's parents and I don't think I have ever enjoyed Rita Wilson on screen more as the tightly wound bride to be or Ralph Fiennes as her dotty fiancee. The camerawork and editing is a little dizzying at times, but it actually seems to fuel this bizarre, nonsensical, yet richly entertaining story. Fans of the movie Alpha Dog and of the TV series Desperate Housewives will definitely have a head start here.