Jordan B
This movie touches on a lot of taboos within culture and community; exposure, exploitation, humor, romance, sex and fear, around and within people experiencing disability, disfigurement, and scarring, and seems to me to be an empowering, wittily dry, tongue in cheek portrayal, centering the people living with said conditions in the story. I work with people who experience a wide range of disabilities that will probably effect them throughout their lives, and the depth, nuance, wonder, humor and insight felt with them seems often too hidden from the mainstream. I appreciate the work being done here. I couldn’t have loved it more, it kept me guessing, and laughing, and questioning myself. The acting and cinematography and staging felt perfect for the story and setting. Looking forward to seeing their next film, A Different Man (wasn’t fast enough to catch it in theaters).
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
10/22/24
Full Review
prawnda s
if you want a good film with adam pearson, watch "under the skin". it navigates his deformity and the way he might be perceived much more deftly than this film, and in much less time. this film feels like too much, and i can't help but feel he was hired just because of under the skin's popular reception. i am all for him having a career, but i don't think this is it. in this film, it seems that adam is merely hired as a prop or novelty, whereas his feelings and lived experience were more subtly discussed in under the skin.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
06/26/24
Full Review
Logan D
On a film set, an actress seeks to connect with her disfigured co-star.
The film opens with a long scroll quote from Pauline Kael, a film critic from for the New Yorker from 1968 to 1991. It concerns beauty on film and why it's not wrong to want to see attractive persons on the big screen.
Certainly a hidden gem if you appreciate reality and surreality flavored with insight, character, and humor.
Trivia:
Herr Director is played by Charlie Korsmo who played Jack Banning, Peter Pan's son, in Hook. He has since retired from acting and is now a professor of corporate law.
The title may refer to a film of the same name that featured conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/09/24
Full Review
isla s
This is very much an indie/b-movie film. I can see that it's trying to challenge peoples view of disfigured people or that it's criticising the stereotypical depiction of this in films but I didn't feel the film really 'worked'. There's not enough strong plot direction. The plot synopsis says "A beautiful actress struggles to connect with her disfigured co-star on the set of a European auteur's English-language debut." yet the actress doesn't seem to struggle to connect with the disfigured actor at all, as far as I could tell, indeed they seem to get on ok, so I don't understand that. This must be meant to be some kind of parody of b-movies or the like but I didn't find it especially amusing or even really all that thought provoking.
Anyway, I'm not too bothered about peoples looks, for the record, I was more confused about the plot direction - it felt a bit aimless and certainly was neither memorable, not did it have any strong impact on me personally, so I wouldn't recommend this, no. A bit niche perhaps?. I'm not sure how comfortable I'd feel thinking of seriously deformed or disfigured people as being the title of this film - chained for life. I'd like to think people wouldn't feel so removed from society purely due to their face not fitting in to what people in western society regard as acceptable but seeing this film hasn't changed my viewpoints on any of that sort of thing. I wouldn't recommend this film, that's all I can really say.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Beautifully shot, and sharply incisive.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
Full Review
nefasto r
Not sure what was the meaning of this mess, but I know that, if there ever was one, it eluded me.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
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