IFFBoston Friday Reviews: 500 Days of Summer, Big Fan, and Pontypool

Unfortunately, all these things are all on the surface. 500 Days of Summer is a whole lot of flash that acts as if it was meaningful and had a lot of depth, but doesn't carry any weight. At times the film seems like a long-version music video (which makes sense as director Marc Webb's previous background was filming bands), with lots of images that are meant to represent something we all can innately connect to, but without actually saying much of anything. The movie's nadir is Zooey Deschanel as Summer, who's velvet voice can't save her from the fact that she simply couldn't act in this film, though she is placed so high on a pedestal that it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. The best part? The film's soundtrack, which provides a cavalcade of indie hits circa the 1980s and is sure to help make this flick a hit when it's released in July. Unfortunately, when the best part of your movie is a commercial-tie in, it means something important is missing from the story. Too bad - the teaser for the movie is fantastic.

Big Fan:

After all the accolades he received for penning The Wrestler, Robert Siegel's directing debut doesn't quite pack the same... er... punch. Big Fan stars Patton Oswalt as Paul Aufiero a rabid Giants fan with delusions of not-quite-grandeur who lives vicariously through his football team and the late-night phone calls to a local sports radio show. Though he's stuck in a menial job and lives with his mom, Paul is too proud to take help offered to him by his siblings and is so committed to the Giants it eclipses all else. However, when Paul manages to cross over a peculiar social boundary involving his favorite player, Quantrell Bishop, Paul begins to question his relationship to his team and in his life.

Siegel's characters are quite vivid, and his dark humor provides some much-needed cushioning to a story that would otherwise be far too depressing. What happens to drag Big Fan down is simply it's length; nearly two-hours of watching a depressing 35-year old sit around and consider a manic phone call to the "Sports Dog" isn't as thrilling as it would seem. Though the film quality is rough and the cinematography a bit jittery, it usually tends to work in favor of the film, giving the story that needed real world edge.

Director and screenwriter Robert Siegel answers questions after the screening of Big Fan.

Director Robert Siegel and actor Kevin Corrigan, who plays Paul's buddy Sal, dropped by for a Q+A after the screening. Corrigan told a hilarious anecdote about meeting Robert De Niro, while Siegel peppered his answers with the kind of down-to-earth and everyday-guy humor that is imbued into his writing quite well. It's too bad this pair can't follow up every forthcoming screening of Big Fan with a handful of in-person anecdotes.

Pontypool:

Horror has needed a film like Pontypool since who knows how long. The genre has appeared to be desperate in the film industry, chopping off any body part or remaking every odd 70s horror sequel just to make a dime on Hollywood Boulevard. And while the mainstream film industry in America douses itself in blood, a healthy number of horror films from around the world have been rejuvenating the genre over and over again.

Named after a small town just over the border in Canada, Pontypool takes place in a small radio station run out of a local church. The prime-time morning slot has been taken over by Grant Mazzy, a formerly-big shock jock who was fired for being a little too loose with his words on air. Mazzy tries to spice up his program by adding in details that dramatically change the morning news broadcasts, though it all begins to bite him in the ass when the station receives call-after-call detailing a grim riot happening in their fair community. Trapped inside their studio, Mazzy, his producer Sydney, and co-producer Laurel do their best to maintain order, keep the broadcast going, and attempt to understand the events they can't quite see.

Needless to say, Pontypool is not only a great horror movie, but an excellent film, period. Though it was shot in a mere fifteen days, the images are vivid and stark, and the characters are downright human, arguing over seemingly-petty details during a potential-crisis in the same manner of those individuals consumed by ignorant thoughts of racism in the original Night of the Living Dead. Kuddos go out to director Bruce McDonald for managing to create such a tight, thrilling, and engaging film. The fact that Bostonist left the Brattle at 2 am more awake than when the film began a little past midnight is a tribute to the power of Pontypool.