"The Indie Scene": "The Notorious Newman Brothers", " GFE: Girlfriend Experience", "Consumption”

Welcome to the Canadian film edition of “The Indie Scene.

The Notorious Newman Brothers
Year: 2009
Director: Ryan Noel
Studio: Retro Films/ Substance Production
Stars: Jason Butler, Brett Buttler, Ryan Noel
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 79 Mins
Official Website: http://www.myspace.com/TheNotoriousNewmanBros

This is latest film written by Jason and Brett Butler, who wrote and directed the very entertaining “Bums” and “Confusions of an Unmarried Couple”. This time they are paired with Ryan Noel, who is directing for the first time, after composing the brother’s last feature film.

This mockumentry is homage to gangster films. It’s about an inexperience director, who documents two up and coming mobsters, Paulie and Thunderclap Newman. As the director profiles them, he does deep inside to find the truth about them, their influences and their endless charades.

“The Notorious Newman Brothers is a very funny mockumentry on mobsters. It’s a very different approach to the previous Butler Brothers films, as neither of them directed this film.

Ryan Noel’s direction was very good. The main reason for that, the acting was very good. Noel lets The Butler Brothers talk like the mobsters that you see in films like “The Godfather”, “Scarface” and “Donnie Brasco”. By letting them do this, he helps make the material even funnier. The action also helps make the comedic rhythm work. It works, because Noel films it in a way that it’s intended to be more entertaining and funny, not gross out or too over the top. He also does a good job filming this film, like an actual documentary. It makes it standout more, compared to other mobster comedies, as the characters are more entertaining.

Noel also wrote the screenplay along with the Butler Brothers. A lot of the material made me laugh. The screenplay has some very good jokes that mobster fans will get easily. Noel and The Butler Brothers do a very good job writing each of the film’s characters, as they did a good job adding quirks to these characters. The characters were written in a way that you are able to enjoy and laugh at the various things that they do during the course. That makes you enjoy everything that goes on in the film.

“The Notorious Newman Brothers” turns the mobster genre upside down, in this very funny comedy.

Review Rating: Five Stars.


GFE: Girlfriend Experience
Year: 2008
Director: Ileana Pietrobruno
Studio: 101 Distribution
Stars: David Lewis, Ivy Vine
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 82 mins
Official Website: http://www.girlfriendexperiencethemovie.com/

“GFE: Girlfriend Experience” is a different type of mockumentry compared to the last film and its also not the Steven Soderberg film that was recently released on DVD.

Daniel is a john, who is having relationship problems with his girlfriend. To cure his problems, he dates prostitutes on the side. One day his girlfriend dumps him and he meets a mysterious prostitute named Adrian. Daniel begins to obsess with her which effects everything in his life. Soon the line between fantasy and reality begins to blur, as Daniel obsession with her might destroy everything that he has.

“GFE: Girlfriend Experience” is a disappointment, as this is a very interesting topic but the structure and the direction of the performances were weak. Writer/director Ileana Pietrobruno direction could have done better with this film. One of the main problems in the film was that I didn’t care about the lead character. Her direction towards the main star in the film felt like it hit the same note over and over, as the main character was in the same state for the entire film. It didn’t make me care about the character, which makes this film boring. You have to be interested in your subject, for a film like this to work. She also makes the performances have no emotion to them, as the acting felt depressing, not engaging.

The other problem was the fact that Pietrobruno goes for more of a mockumentary type of approach. I give her credit for trying this, but the story needed to be told in a more straightforward way. This type of approach really hurts the fact that this could have been an interesting character study. Also, I didn’t like the fact that Pietrobruno didn’t go deeper into the effects that Dave’s addiction was having in his regular life. That would have made the story and the main character a little more interesting.

“GFE: Girlfriend Experience” is nice effort in trying a different of character study, but falls short in keeping your interest.

Review Rating: 2 Stars


Consumption
Year: 2007
Director: Richard Powell
Studio: Fatal Pictures
Stars: Bruno Talotta, Andrea Settleton
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 31 Mins
Official Website: http://www.myspace.com/consumption2007

"Consumption” focuses on two people, who meet on an online chat. One is a woman, who is having problems with her relationship, and the other is an eccentric professor, who’s trying to prove a theory about cannibalism. Soon he tries to get the woman to participate in his experiment, knowing full well that she’ll be eaten afterwards.

The film is a very dark and low-key horror film that scores with the performances. Richard Powell’s direction was very dark. He does a job with keeping its somber tone, as this is one of those horror films that don’t have a lot of action. The film relies on atmosphere and performances. The atmosphere and tone is very dark. Powell achieves this through the direction and the score that he uses. It helps make this film and its subject matter very dark. The performances here were very good. In a film like this, you need the performances to be a point where the characters have to be interesting, in order for the film to be enjoyable. Powell does a very good job directing both Bruno Talotta and Andrea Settleton. The two had very good chemistry with each other, as they made their characters dark and interesting. Powell also made sure that both of the actors connected with one another, as the back and forth conversations helps makes this very watchable.

Powell also did a good job with the screenplay, as he really makes this dark. He does a good job keeping the action going, by making the characters interesting. He does that, by exploring why each of the characters is going through with this experiment. It makes the film interesting, when there is not a lot going on. That and the long conversation that the two main characters have, gets you into the story of the film. Powell also does a good making the last third of the film very macabrish. He does, by exploring the doctor’s state of mind, as he works on the experiment and his thoughts about his experiment afterward. It makes the character more of a study than just your normal mad scientist film.

“Consumption" is a dark and twisted horror film that boasts strong performances from its leads and nauseas moments.

Review Rating: Five Stars