Friday September 15, 2006 SGN.org |
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Volume 34 Issue 37 |
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Friday, Sep 05, 2008
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Clever psychological horror tail, Head Trauma, rings true to unreality |
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| Clever psychological horror tail, Head Trauma, rings true to unreality | |
| by Derich Mantonela
- SGN A&E Writer
Opens Today at the Grand Illusion Director/writer Lance Weiler ("The Last Broadcast") blends a clever mix in "Head Trauma," a film which is at once pedestrian and surreal, logical and fantastical, a low budget indie' with some lavish visual touches (cinematographer Sam Levy). The film is co-written by Brian Majeska. George (Vince Mola) is a scruffy-bearded vagabond 'every-man,' roughly 40, who returns to his Pennsylvania home town after two decades of indeterminate wandering and possible mental disorder, setting up camp in his deceased grandmother's abandoned, rapidly decaying (and officially condemned) house. When George learns that the house is slated for demolition, he sets about frantically trying to restore it in order to convince city officials to let him keep it. Never mind that he has no tools or any particular skills in carpentry or plumbing whatsoever, but he enlists the (rather unwilling) help of a neighbor's grandson (Jamil A.C. Mangin), whom he initially finds "hanging out" in the basement. The young man secretly makes drawings which essentially serve as a sort of story board (this device makes no particular logical sense but is effective nonetheless). George runs across an old girlfriend, Mary (Mary Monahan), working in a hardware store and later shows up at her house after midnight, bearing an apple pie which he insists she share with him. Mary seems sympathetic at first but soon concludes that George's ramblings about spirits and threatening dreams and strange objects in his house is just too creepy, so she throws him out. The dialog in this and other scenes rings true and natural, its banality edged with the pathos of George's steadily mounting delusions and desperation. While he clearly demonstrates signs of mental deterioration, his keen-edged, manic declarations and observations may hold certain truths, as evidenced by some horrific flashbacks interspersed throughout the film. George's mental state, skewed as it is, draws us to him sympathetically - he seems like a poor sap, a good guy even, demonized and victimized, tortured by guilt, but what do we know about him, really? Weiler manages to paint him simultaneously as charismatic and creepy, and to make us want him to exorcize his torment. Unlike most genre films which leave gaping holes in logic and believability, Head Trauma actually unravels its puzzles neatly and tidily - for the most part anyway. The acting throughout is natural and sincere, the production values on a par with bigger-budgeted films, while Weiler's direction is relatively unadorned with gimmickry. The film's resolution lifts some of the burden of grief and guilt from its poor downtrodden protagonist, while at the same time it casts him adrift in a world which, materially and emotionally, offers him little comfort or hope. |
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International Readers |
REPORTS & MUSINGS FROM THE VETERAN GAY AND AIDS HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATE
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