Review of The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle (2010) by Lee M — 21 Dec 2010

Here is a movie that is as original and bizarre as its title suggests. Sometimes it's worth going to a movie because it is removed from what most of us typically go to movies to see. Such a movie would be Little Dizzle. It is the feature film debut by Seattle filmmaker David Russo, who has effectively crafted an eclectic, postmodern comedy.

The story is about Dory (Marshall Allman), a data entry worker who, after going on a blowout rant at work that had been no doubt building his entire life, is fired and forced to take a job as a night janitor at an office building. He makes friends there including the very funny O.C. (Vince Vieluf). Most of the movie's comedy is owed to him. He reminds me of everyone's favourite uncle, and is quick-witted with unabashed lewd remarks. Dory, O.C. and the rest of the night shift don't know it, but they are guinea pigs for the research company they clean for.

The researchers have dropped big bags of experimental, chemically engineered cookies into the trash, which the crew start consuming in quantities not fit for the consumption of any cookie, experimental or not.. The cookies are designed to warm in your mouth, to have that fresh out of the oven taste, "just like your mom used to make." After the crew eats the cookies the men start experiencing severe flu-like symptoms, and wild hallucinations. The suffering only ends one way, and it involves little blue fish, one of them named Little Dizzle. I'm not even going to go down the road of attempting to explain that in more detail. While the movie is eccentric, it takes itself seriously, and is convincing.

There is a lot going on in this movie. Russo is an eclectic director, balancing many different elements together. The movie is a buddy comedy, slapstick comedy, and is balanced with serious content. There are also long, frequent injections of montages, both live action and animated. It takes an uncommon talent to balance all those things in one movie, but Russo does it effectively enough. When they find out they have been exploited, the characters suffer sincerely and feel disenfranchised with the corporation they work for. There is a low key, indirect social statement about capitalism and corporate exploitation, best summed up by O.C.'s remark "we don't stand a chance against product research." There is also a recurring theme of the power of apologies, both for the apologizer, and for the forgiver. Characters keep screw up big time, usually for no good reason. Sincere apologies can be more than just a social nicety; they can be a powerful release from mental agony.

But what the movie is most about is montage. The live action montages depict everything from highly stylized janitorial duties to the journey of a message in a bottle. The animated ones are typically used to depict hallucinations. Russo did the animation for the movie as well, and enjoys creating montages more than anything else. The animated ones in particular are hypnotic and the most enjoyable to watch. All of the montages in total take up a large chunk of the runtime, and if they didn't exist I suspect there would not be enough material for a feature length movie. The best thing the movie has going for it is that it's original, visually. The substance of the movie is moderately effective, but I don't see it working well enough on its own. Had the movie been staged more conventionally I doubt it would have left as much of an impression.