| C | Fantastic Fest 2022 |
This writer/director has a distinctive, I would say odd, voice. The film was at turns surreal or absurd or philosophical or a fever dream, but never enough of any of these for the movie to be classified that way. So mostly a drama with quirks.
It was also an odd mix of celebrity. The script dissected the essence of celebrity and its effects from both ends (on the way up and the way down). The main character intentionally evoked a young Garth Brooks. The second main character was the George Jones (obviously played by an actor). Another actor seemed to be channeling a young Sam Elliot. And some of the stories George told sounded more like Elvis legends—“Did I tell you about the time I worked for the FBI?” (I don’t know, maybe George had such legends, too?)
All together, the movie felt clinical. Everything felt flat to me, even the scene where one character got angry enough to push over a lamp (which we did not hear break). I was not drawn in emotionally and spent the movie intellectually analyzing the movie’s style.
I just noticed, IMDB labels this movie as a comedy. I did not see it that way.
