Haggisboy
11-10-2007, 10:08 AM
Packaging paranoia is no easy task as the folks at Lionsgate seem to have discovered. Faced with the dilemma of how to market William Friedkin’s cinematic retelling of Tracy Letts’ off-Broadway stage play about two unhinged denizens of a dusty road motel, the marketing minds behind this small, uneven picture chose to play up Friedkin’s horror pedigree and present it as though it were a creature-feature slime fest.
As such, horror fans will be left not merely disappointed, but scratching their heads and wondering what they just watched.
They’re to be forgiven, however, as this movie refuses to make things easy on anybody, and instead plays out as one extended head game, not only with the viewer, but the character study it presents.
True to its stage play roots, Bug’s focus is small, largely taking place within the confines of a cheap, run down motel room. It tells the story of Agnes (Ashley Judd), an alcoholic waitress struggling to put behind her an abusive husband (Harry Connick Jr.) and the memories of her six-year-old son, who vanished one day while left unattended on a shopping trip. Agnes’ constant harassment by a mysterious caller who rings her phone at all hours and never speaks foreshadows the torment she is yet to endure when her girlfriend introduces her to the enigmatic Peter (Michael Shannon), an ex gulf war vet with inner demons of his own.
Soon enough, the two form a symbiotic paranoiac relationship with each feeding off and fueling the other’s delusions, culminating in Peter’s conviction that bugs are crawling under their skin as a result of some bizarre military experiment, the type of which only a delusional mind can both concoct and believe. By this point, however, the liberties that Friedkin takes to make the viewer wonder how much of what is happening is real, or the machinations of two demented minds, begin to work against the plot as well as test the patience of the viewer.
This is ground better trod by David Cronenberg in his masterfully haunting 2002 movie Spider – which artfully and compellingly told the story of a British loner’s life-long struggle with mental illness.
Like a true artiste, however, Friedkin’s Bug refuses to stake out that oft desired middle ground of easy explanations and commercially viable plot progression, instead leaving ample room for viewer interpretation and the cultivation of a love it or hate response.
Right now I hate it, but get back to me in a few days and that might change. Such is the nature of this little Bug that Friedkin has lodged in my brain.
Official Site (http://bugthemovie.com/)
As such, horror fans will be left not merely disappointed, but scratching their heads and wondering what they just watched.
They’re to be forgiven, however, as this movie refuses to make things easy on anybody, and instead plays out as one extended head game, not only with the viewer, but the character study it presents.
True to its stage play roots, Bug’s focus is small, largely taking place within the confines of a cheap, run down motel room. It tells the story of Agnes (Ashley Judd), an alcoholic waitress struggling to put behind her an abusive husband (Harry Connick Jr.) and the memories of her six-year-old son, who vanished one day while left unattended on a shopping trip. Agnes’ constant harassment by a mysterious caller who rings her phone at all hours and never speaks foreshadows the torment she is yet to endure when her girlfriend introduces her to the enigmatic Peter (Michael Shannon), an ex gulf war vet with inner demons of his own.
Soon enough, the two form a symbiotic paranoiac relationship with each feeding off and fueling the other’s delusions, culminating in Peter’s conviction that bugs are crawling under their skin as a result of some bizarre military experiment, the type of which only a delusional mind can both concoct and believe. By this point, however, the liberties that Friedkin takes to make the viewer wonder how much of what is happening is real, or the machinations of two demented minds, begin to work against the plot as well as test the patience of the viewer.
This is ground better trod by David Cronenberg in his masterfully haunting 2002 movie Spider – which artfully and compellingly told the story of a British loner’s life-long struggle with mental illness.
Like a true artiste, however, Friedkin’s Bug refuses to stake out that oft desired middle ground of easy explanations and commercially viable plot progression, instead leaving ample room for viewer interpretation and the cultivation of a love it or hate response.
Right now I hate it, but get back to me in a few days and that might change. Such is the nature of this little Bug that Friedkin has lodged in my brain.
Official Site (http://bugthemovie.com/)