From IFMagazine :
A twisted psychological movie with Zachary Levi as a real bastard
Grade: B+
Stars: Joel Moore, Amber Tamblyn, Zachary Levi
Writer(s): Jeremy Danial Boreing, Joel Moore
Director: Adam Green, Joel Moore
Release Date: February 8th, 2008
Rating: PG-13
Distributor: Anchor Bay Entertainment
SPIRAL is not a remake; thankfully, of the bizarre Asian horror movie where a town goes slowly insane from looking at spiral patterns and people turn into snails. I just wanted to clear that up for anyone that though this movie was a re-make. No, actually this is a fresh, original, and often stark psychological thriller that plays like one part romance, one part buddy movie, and one part ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST.
Co-directed by Adam Green (HATCHET) and Joel Moore (who also stars and co-wrote this film) SPIRAL is the tale of one very sad lonely man’s quest for love. Mason (Moore) is a quiet introverted guy who works in phone sales marketing. He likes jazz and likes to paint beautiful women who are women that he become obsessed with in a fashion and then falls out with. Mason’s only friend is Berkeley (Zachary Levi from CHUCK) who is less of a friend and more of a guy who keeps Mason around so his life doesn’t look so bad. Enter into the picture Amber (Amber Tamblyn THE GRUDGE 2) who likes Mason because of all of his quirks and idiosyncratic routines. Amber and Mason strike up an unlikely romance and then things get totally screwy in Mason’s head and things do not end on the happiest of notes.
This film is a complete departure from Adam Green’s previous directorial work HATCHET. That film was a pretty straight forward slash and hack horror movie with lots of blood, guts, bare breasted women and horrifying death scenes. This co-directed feature with Moore is following closer to the line of SHALLOW GRAVE, where part of the “fun” of the movie is to be trapped inside the mind of someone who sees the world with a not quite completely sane perspective. This is a starkly shot and realistic film that looks at how dysfunctional people work in society and how they often times slip through the cracks and miss out on being able to lead what might be considered a more “normal” life.
Fans of the NBC hit CHUCK will be surprised that Zachary Levi is not playing his usual loveable self in this film, but is actually pretty much and insufferable bastard who only takes pity on others when it suits him to make himself feel better or to feel like he is a great person because he is “helping” someone out. His character has almost even higher levels of delusion and social malfunction than Mason, and it is only through the journey of the film that you come to realize just how screwed up Berkeley really is. Levi does a nice job of making you loathe him, and it’s easy to completely forget CHUCK while watching his performance.
This is an uncomfortable movie to watch. I won’t lie about that. I probably wouldn’t watch it twice because psychological dramas only go so far with me when they are this stark and realistic. Having said that, this is a well crafted film with some interesting twists and turns that make you scratch your head and think at the end as the credits start to role. This movie definitely accomplishes its purpose to make the audience sympathize and squirm at alternating parts of the film.
Entries (RSS)