Summer's over. It's time for ... time for ...
Look, I'm trying to muster some actual enthusiasm here, but we all know what happens next: we endure a month of middling to okay new films before Hollywood gets serious again in October. While practically half of Hollywood racks up frequent flyer miles between Telluride, Venice and Toronto for film festivals throughout September, we're left squinting really hard at the new releases each weekend to find something worth watching (unless you're someone lucky enough to be at those festivals in which case screw you right in the ear, not that I'm jealous or anything).
What's that, you say, other me? What does any of this have to do with a kooky new Alison Pill movie?
I'm glad you asked. The answer is next to nothing. That's right, I've been rambling now mostly just to fill up some space at the top of this article before I segue to a trailer and quote from a review. Mission accomplished.
Well, that's not completely true. I was going to pivot off of "Oh, summer movies bad" into "September movies not promising" before landing on "Which makes this a perfect time check out this bizarre, but fun-looking meta movie Zoom which alternates between three stories, some of which are animated, some not. It arrives on VOD tomorrow, and also in some select theaters but screw you LA and NY people and your unfettered access to every single movie ever. The rest of the world just has to watch this through Vudu at home (again, not that I'm jealous or anything)." But I got lost along the way, and...
Eh, why am I still talking? I just sound really bitter for some reason, but, I swear, I'm trying to be more optimistic these days. Like, when I watch the following trailer I don't think "Yeah, like that's really going to hold together." Instead, I just imagine how much of a trip this movie could be, a heaping dose of strange after a summer which had few such offerings beyond the farting corpse movie (it has a title, but we all just seem to call it the farting corpse movie) and Neon Demon:
Confused? Check out Variety's review from last year when Zoom played the festival circuit:
A spirited if spotty solo debut for Brazilian helmer Pedro Morelli, this breathless trifle triangulates the personal and creative crises of an insecure comic-book artist, a cocksure filmmaker and an aspiring novelist - with the considerable high-concept twist that each of the three is living a narrative created by one of the others. Morelli and tyro scribe Matt Hansen unpack this Charlie Kaufman-lite premise with more cleverness than wit, struggling particularly to find the right racy tone for various erotic interludes - but the part-toon pic's neatly collapsing structure and pop-art flourishes ensure it's never dull.
I will watch this because Tyler Labine is in it, and I am duty bound to offer him my patronage in honor of his immortal work on Reaper. Also, those cartoons sure do look awfully purdy.
Zoom hits VOD tomorrow, and probably in some awesome art-house theaters in NY or LA as well.
