Dir - Guy Maddin
Overall: GOOD
Once again Guy Maddin delivers another contemporary movie that seems floating around in a bygone, fictitious era. Keyhole does not fit comfortably into any particular genre and any gangster, film noir, or haunted house elements present are as hazy as the story itself which seems to be re-imagining Homer's The Odyssey in the most indirect of ways. The film has a claustrophobic agenda as it all takes place in a single house and characters appear trapped there either in locked rooms, by chains, or by circumstances. Repeated viewings would probably unveil some missed details, but then again perhaps not. Keyhole presents itself as an abstract look into something that can only be abstract; how ghosts unlock their sorrowful memories and regrets. In this regard, Maddin has concocted a near perfect representation of such things since the challenging narrative can really only be as such. The entire cast is appropriately low-key with the perpetually funny Kevin McDonald specifically providing some intended humor. Horny specters and the sort of the nonchalant way the characters interact with either dead or living versions of themselves further shows that Maddin is still trying to have fun while confusing and tantalizing his viewer's brains all the same.
Dir - Joseph Kahn
Overall: MEH
Prolific music video director Joseph Kahn mostly self-financed Detention, a film which does everything in its power to be both as obnoxiously hip and genre-defying as humanly conceivable. Credit where it is due though; the movie is wildly unpredictable. The humor works when the rug is relentlessly pulled out from under you as the story goes to so many ridiculous places at such a frenzied pace that you give up keeping up. Unfortunately, all that leaves you with is trying to stomach the non-stop bombardment of retro pop culture references. They never cease and they never become tolerable. As much as Kahn is cleverly twisting expectations by bouncing the film though self-aware slasher, sci-fi, and high school comedy avenues ad nauseum, the film's undoing is by how desperately hip it is perpetually attempting to be. The phrase "trying way too hard" is virtually screaming at you the entire time and it gets in the way of all of the surprisingly decent character construction and the inventive, morphed structure. Still, Detention's redeemable qualities almost make it recommendable and different audience types may find its flaws more bearable than others. So if you are up for nothing going according to plan and dance scenes set to "MMMBop" and "Everybody Dance Now", by all means check it out.
Dir - Lucky McKee
Overall: WOOF
A highly uncomfortable premise and arguably even more uncomfortable presentation, The Woman is unabashed torture porn and ergo difficult to find any merit in. Lucky McKee also has the odd yet interesting May under his writer/director belt, (and even re-cast Angela Bettis here), and he is collaborating with Jack Ketchum on his novel of the same name. The film is also a sequel to Offspring in that it utilizes the same title woman Pollyanna Mclntosh in the lead. Watching the movie with or without seeing the proceeding one makes no significant difference as the follow-up focuses on a new crop of characters; an agonizingly dysfunctional family and one of the most despicable father-son relationships you are likely to ever see in a movie. With nothing thought-provoking getting through, The Woman becomes a very rough waiting game for these horrible, horrible people to finally get killed and in the mean time we are just watching them be horrible. When this finally happens, the experience was exhausting enough that any comeuppance delivered is too little, too late and the empty, dirty feeling you have left sitting in your brain is not likely to shake off any time soon. It is the most common problem with the sub-genre, namely "what is the point to making or watching a movie like this in the first place?". It is indeed difficult to come up with any answers.
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