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Reviews
Down Into Happiness (2003)
Up with Happiness! Down with ketchup...
I rated this film a 7 out of 10, but that's in big picture perspective. This film was the 2nd place winner in the 72 hour Feature Project at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago so all 80 or so minutes were filmed and edited in 72 hours. As a result, the editing is a little shaky in some places and the sound transitions are often noticeable. Nonetheless, the directing, acting and most impressively the writing is as good as you will find for this type of endeavor. With humor, melancholy and brilliant characterization, these 3 vignettes force the audience to explore their own notions of happiness. In the first vignette, a dog-walker/aspiring actress struggles to find happiness looking for her big break into television. In the second, an advertising copywriter is overcome with paranoid preoccupation of death, specifically of his living and otherwise healthy parents. The last story introduces us to a wife-dominated driving instructor who finds happiness when he discovers his true passion in life is... well, drinking ketchup. I enjoyed the film immensely; it was non-didactic, yet it effectively demanded introspective from its audience.
28 Days Later... (2002)
Why do such promising films end so poorly?
For me, this movie was a perfect 10 until the last 20 minutes. Then it a 4. The beginning scenes were as intense as anything I've seen in the past several years.
Spider (2002)
Would make a great "Alfred Hitchcock Presents"
The schizophrenic/oedipal explorations are captivating and well done. You'll spend some time talking about this one when you're done.
But man, does this movie drag. Seemed like only enough material for a short film.