So here we are in the middle of a snowy cold isolated existence between a winter wonderland and a coma of exhausted possibilities for 2011. The future is so bright I have to wear shades, or maybe it is so dark I need lots of flashlights to break their beams through a current of blackness. During an age of overstimulated reality drama, mainstream re-makes and over budget extremism comes a filmmaker with a perceptive wit and a talent for bringing our inner demons out to dine with each other over a cup of tea on a sunny afternoon while being able to laugh at why people have repressed us for so long. Aka joey has created a trilogy about three fictional young women who are experiencing an array of what 'society' has deemed as psychological disorders that are damaging to themselves and others around them.
The first film MISSING GREEN explores a missing college student that we learn has disappeared on account of her own clinical depression; visually erected through the use of multiple formats including the use of PIXELVISION, a vintage kids toy camera from 1987. The use of different recording devices is an intelligent way in which to convey the story of a literal and metaphorical disappearance of a young girl who has deteriorated from society and from herself, therefore the pixels that make up the images begin to also deteriorate into a facsimile of a fictional facial factorial flashback recognition. The ghost like atmosphere with an underlying humor that is so subtle that one must pull it out from a cold unforeseen depth of the comedy that goes along with the experience of being human is what makes MISSING GREEN a good way to begin the trilogy, as if we are entering this world of dark psychological humor through a portal of another dimension where our spirits go to be reborn into an unnatural state, a state which the filmmaker is guiding us through. Charles Dickens said it best "An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself."
NICE PEOPLE is the middle "child" in the trilogy, as it should be; containing disturbing content about a dancer who is suffering from an extreme body image disorder (Dysmorphic) that is attributed to the extreme pressure to be perfect that her parents have consistently drilled into her from a young age. As a second film it conveys a dysfunction that a smaller percent of the audience can presumably relate to, but a film that is structured as more of a secret diary interpretation that is perceptively seen from different points of view within the narrative itself adds to the building of depth within the story. The comedy in the piece is so well executed with obvious hints that defy the reality of the situation, but in some cases people will see pass it entirely and enter a world of darkness that they are unable to return from. This does not mean that they are perceiving it "wrong", it just proves that the film has multiple layers like an onion; you peel back the layers and some times your eyes tear up... our mind plays tricks on us and tricks play with our mind.
HOMEWRECKA is a triumphant third film that encompasses disappearing, violence, depression, and crisis of identity. On the surface this film portrays a man that is being mentally and physically abused by his girlfriend who is a dangerously delusional psychologically impaired individual who is still trying to figure herself out. Although it is about a woman and narrated by a woman, it seems to be subliminally told from the male perspective; it is interesting because normally the film is told by a neutral unidentifiable entity. This film holds a personal power that the other films lack, making the comedy more apparent but in a way that shines through to illuminate it's beautiful misanthropic self-deprecating nature. Showing weapons such as Nerf guns that are also a product invented in the 80's when the "after school special" was very prominent. In the 90's the Nerf slogan was "It's Nerf or nothin!" A product that is used for violence but created to not be physically harmful to the victim. This film functions on a level that the audience can easily relate to because most of us have experienced some form of verbal or physical violence in our lives through relationships that has changed us in some way. The experiences and connections that we have with other people is what shapes us and it can either make us stronger, less trusting, less vulnerable, and more aware of our surroundings or it can beat us down figuratively and literally making us unable to function as society expects us to. The narration is by one narrator with a British accent which makes it sound like a PBS documentary or a story told on the court TV. HOMEWRECKA does not use as many flashy experimental devices as the filmmaker's previous films, which worked well for those films, but in this case the minimal use of visual technology brought the film back down to an earthly place, a place that contains more of a solid substance rather than a ghostly image. We have arrived from the spirit world like an Angel that is falling, then we pass through the middle "the point equally distant from the outer limits" and arrive back on solid moist dirty ground which is HOMEWRECKA. It is a departure, using one narrator without distorting the sound, including a typewriter that directly connects the creator to the creation which in a strange way makes me think that the filmmaker is not so detached from this piece which in turn brings the audience closer to the film itself. A story narrated in a straight linear direction told like a doctor analyzing a patient, but instead of using a tape recorder they use images in conjunction with well articulated words that rhythmically flow into each other like the wave of emotion that wash over us from the power of a beautiful poem.
For more info about aka joey please check out these links:
Website:
http://www.janepublic.com/pages/main.html
http://janepublic.blogspot.com/
