Review of Rhinoceros Eyes (2004) by Bruno C — 20 Sep 2008

I had caught glimpses of this film, and certainly intrigued me with some fantastic cinematography and set designs.

Now that I've seen the whole movie, it's a very quirky indie film. Michael Pitt does a great job portraying Chep, an idiot-savant/autistic young fellow that lives in a prop house, taken in my the pothead owners. All the kid does is live and work in the prop house, and only leaves to see classic movies. He ends up becoming infatuated with a movie art designer that walks into the shop, and ends up finding odd props she needs for a film shoot she's working on. There's also some interesting Ray Harryhausen-type effects for Chep's delusional episodes talking with props coming to life, among other day-dream surreal sequences (interestingly enough the director is the nephew of David Cronenberg). Great references here, from Ed Wood's movie star/wrestler Tor Johnsen, Harryhausen, classic movie musicals/romances...

Basically this is a story of loss of innocence, of someone living a sheltered imaginary existence clashing with "reality". It ends up being a very light, strange, funny film...it's a great debut for director Aaron Woodley and great cast to support is as well...a beautiful film to watch.