Bitter & Twisted

I thought this was a really wonderful, understated film. The acting was heart-wrenching - especially the actress who plays the mother - and the cinematography had an almost dream like quality to it that kept me on edge for the entire film. Really captures that feel of lonely creepy suburban life well.

The story is nothing special though - a son/brother/boyfriend has died and the family gets torn apart - blah blah. Seen it before so many times. But I thought the way it was done is what helps it stand apart (and must be how it got into some of those huge festivals). There's some amazing moments - like a whirling shot around a park bench where the dead character appears and then disappears all in one take (you'll just have to see it to know what I'm talking about). I still have no idea how that was done. I went back and watched the scene three times to try and figure it out (maybe it's two shots blended I don't know). I gave up on it.

The guy who wrote, directed and acted in this is really somebody to watch. I found this film after reading his "Muppet Man" screenplay that topped this years Blacklist. Was curious to see what else he had done. Apparently he wrote this when he was 20. This is no "Muppet Man" though. But it's still pretty, pretty, pretty good (to quote Larry David).

Anyway - ignore the moaners on here. "Bitter and Twisted" is way better than 99.999999999999% of independent films I've seen over the last few years. I thought it was awesome.