Review of Bellflower (2011) by J.j. W — 18 Jun 2012

Bellflower is a "purposefully flawed" film. Dirty lenses, poor focus, and constant over-exposure brings across a very dirty and unpolished feel which is part of the point because all the characters within this movie are childish hacks who are now facing the reality of the adult world.

Writer and director Evan Glodell really does understand the young punk rebellious attitude that a lot of young adults go through. Yet the movie faltered because it seems so ambitious to be different but not ambitious enough to really find any inner truths about facing the real world.

From the first scene, all these characters seem like immature bums who are living off a fantasy about being cool. But it repeats that over and over again and when the movie finally decides to start developing that, it doesn't go far enough and seems to withdraw.

Glodell also tries to make these characters sympathetic but a large part of the character's problems are self-inflicted and just the inherent drawback of a delinquent lifestyle. Thus, I end up feeling sorry for the situation rather than the characters.

Which I don't think the director was really going for. But then again, it would be more clear what the director wanted to bring across if he followed through on the development in the final act. It's nice that the film doesn't get overly judgmental or preachy but the extreme opposite of that isn't necessarily a better option.

Thus, the writing is just lackluster and without a solid foundation, the visual tricks just feel like cheap gimmicks. Ultimately, there's better films that explore similar subject matters deeper.