Review of Bellflower (2011) by Nik B — 24 May 2012

It's a tired, clichà (C)d story. Boy meets girl at a basement bar cricket-eating contest.... and then it gets weird.

Milly is clearly impetuous. Does anything that's dared her. Woodrow has a more timid demeanor. But Milly is beautiful, fun and cool as hell. When they form their bond, she warns him. "I'll hurt you." "You won't hurt me." A man who could see the future would still have a hard time turning her away.

Jobs are never discussed. And while everyone is living no better than mattress-on-floor California rentals; Woodrow and his bestie Aiden spend the bulk of their time building a flamethrower and a flame-throwing muscle car in anticipation of being Mad Max heroes of the apocalypse.

A key scene has Woodrow leaving for some outing (work? who knows?). Milly is clearly disappointed that he's leaving and the elongated time that she'll be without him. When he says, "I love you." Milly immediately snaps and gives disappointed sigh, as if that expression changed everything. As Milly, Jessie Wiseman is a perfect combination of danger, fun and sex. Expect her to be a Bond girl. She will be huge.

Well, Milly does end up hurting Woodrow. And in a motorcycle raging-away moment, Woody gets hit by a car. Returning bruised, battered and somewhat brain-damaged, Woody loses focus. Aiden continues to support him with auto-construction. But Woody still finds selfish solace with Milly's best friend-slash-Aiden's one-time interest. The frustration builds as Woody and Milly one-up some revenges upon each other to the film's conclusion. In the end, the audience is left to wonder if what we want to do is really what we choose to do. While I left the film feeling safe that I am not in a relationship, but also regretting any acrimony that led me to distance myself from anyone I've ever loved.

While the script and direction are top-notch, the main accolades are coming from the cinematography side. Joel Hodge colors the film with beautiful frames of blurred-to-shimmering images. He used a camera apparently designed by Evan Glodell, who also wrote/directed/edited this movie, as well as starring in the lead role. If I were to discredit anything about this movie, it would be Evan's acting. His shyboy routine is too precious to be accurate. And when things turn dark, his moodiness is simply one-note. But it sounds like he'll be able to practice and perfect that skill as well.