(Short)
Rating:
Director: Bryan Poser
Producer: Greg Gilpatrick
Writer: Bryan Poser
Director of Photography: Greg Gilpatrick
Cast: Jacob Vaughan, Karen Skloss
Format: 16mm
| PLEASURELAND (Short) Rating: Director: Bryan Poser Producer: Greg Gilpatrick Writer: Bryan Poser Director of Photography: Greg Gilpatrick Cast: Jacob Vaughan, Karen Skloss Format: 16mm |
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Review by: Warren
Curry
5/14/02
Bryan Poser's 19-minute black and white short, Pleasureland, is one of the strangest films you're likely to ever see. Even watching this movie alone in the privacy of my living room, I felt an embarrassed creepiness attacking me like a swarm of wasps during the viewing. It's certainly a polarizing work (Ian was no fan of this film), but I have to give Poser credit for his original and surreal vision -- trust me, you've never seen anything quite like it.
Jacob Vaughan (who also edited the film) plays a 20-something slacker (how appropriate, considering the film was shot in Austin, TX), who frequents a local video store and indulges in some of their finest adult fare. One day, he pops a tape into his VCR and the machine devours it, before emitting a strange liquid substance. But the odd activities have just begun -- next, a naked woman, who sports an umbilical cord-like cable protruding from her midsection, appears on our protagonist's bed. The woman seems ready, willing and able to satiate even the most voracious sexual appetite, but before long the cable becomes unplugged, causing her to lose "power" and disappear. Continued trips to this video store result in similar, yet increasingly wilder occurrences, until the store's cashier (Karen Skloss) finally has enough, and gives the loyal customer an especially unique tape.
Poser worked with a group of actors who gladly threw caution to the wind, and the director takes full advantage of their absence of inhibitions. The extremely grainy look of the film lends to the bizarre sensory experience, and Poser certainly succeeds in creating a freakish environment. Tonally, he easily hits his intended mark.
The film may have worked better if it pursued a more absurdly comic angle. Traces exist in some of the interaction between Vaughan and Skloss (who have the only speaking roles), but the dialogue is flat and doesn't really allow the actors to exhibit their skills. The film feels too single minded (yes, I realize it's a short and there's not a whole lot of time for variation) and content to play its one note. This wouldn't even be a problem, but Poser so obviously demonstrates the potential to do much more with the material.
Pleasureland
is guaranteed to make 99% of its audience feel somewhat or possibly
even incredibly uncomfortable, which is why I would love to catch
the film at a festival some time. Perhaps it's only for the adventurous,
but I'm extremely curious to see what Poser will do next.
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