i can't really say i enjoyed this film, because it was really uncomfortable. like, the feeling of dread about how things were developing was hard to set aside, even knowing this was a piece of fiction. i finished high school long after columbine but well before the age of school shootings happening every week, or more, and the most traumatic thing that happened at my school was a lockdown because an armed gunman from a nearby robbery cut through our campus in an attempted escape. and that time we had a bomb threat, that was kind of scary.
anyway, even being pretty removed compared to the generation after me, this was hard to be able to find comedic value in. there are funny moments, but it's not a funny film. the high schoolers are believable, and so are the teachers. i'm glad owen was able to come out of his shell, i guess? and matt is a truly convincing character—in that he's kind of a shell of a person, whose personality is wholly constructed around the movies that he enjoys. i love kevin smith and he doesn't usually steer me wrong but idk i could've lived my life easily without ever seeing this.
Absolutely brilliant and powerful. Astounding performances from the two protagonists.
Owen's depiction of someone suffering from PTSD was breathtaking. I also liked how it was made ambiguous whether there was a cameraman in all of the scenes or it was just in Matt's imagination for most of them (e.g. the cliff scene and a few others where there are shots from multiple angles cut together).
The real psychopath is the cameraman
Good but not for everyone. Some will have difficulty understanding the main character. Not because he's complex, but because he's meant to be one dimensional and annoying. The first part of the movie he's even funny. He's obsessed with movies, yet in reality that just means being a walking encyclopedia of movies rather than taking a creative interest. Notice at the end that his title sequence is just a mash up of other moviesa? He's an escapist who turns into a fantasist. He calmy questions his sanity, which was a great idea because it raises the nature vs nurture (in this case social environment) question. Owen has an interesting development as when his character starts to progress out of his hole his attitude changes. This was bittersweet and true to life. One one side someone feels better about themselves. On the other it's sad because even a only friend who you thought was on same wavelength can just be like everyone else in the end; and treat you as disposable company.
I really enjoyed this, though it's not easy to watch likeable characters go off the rails.
It was enjoyable and uncomfortable, but I've seen other school shooting movies that have a real feeling of being in a horrendous scenario. What I really enjoyed it the similarities between the leads and the Dylan and Eric, made it feel hard hitting than any of the others.
Great movie. I was very surprised. I guess I was expecting a lower quality but the characters are interesting and real, the story is relatable and human. I hope to see a lot more from these two guys.
Why would they go with the cake plan?? :joy:
They didn't really play of too well of the bully theme but it was an interesting watch regardless and better than the turd The Final is. The ending was kinda bad though.. after all that planing beginning it like that and then just going after Owen -.-? Another gripe was the found footage style: Who the fuck was behind the camera? We have multiple angles (or often weird ones) in some scenes and filming in scenes where it didn't make sense for their movie (even when editing). One possibility is that at some point he was going nuts and no one was actually filming because even Owen doesn't aknowledge the camera but then again, his name gets mentioned, he grabs popcorn and Matt talks to him (The Office style)? The film also opens with a disclaimer that no footage was altered? I figure they just didn't care at one point...
Review by DeletedBlockedParentSpoilers2016-01-24T02:44:49Z
So I just saw the dirties and I really liked it. Now i'm not sure I could call it fantastic but its definitely something ill watch again in the future. And even just thinking about it right now, I can tell that this is probably the type of film thats going to grow on me over time. Now, the whole movie is handy-cam found footage style and even that much had me rolling my eyes coming into it. In the first half of the film, I found myself getting annoyed by the typical cliches you'd expect in that type of movie. I found myself asking "Why are they always miced all the time? Why are they filming this and why do they have a B-camera?"
And although the vast majority of films would pretend that its not happening and just hope that you're too stupid to think about it; Part of what won me over with this film is how they continuously showed a sense of self awareness. And after a significant amount of the film went by I realised just how good of a choice it was to leave a lot of that up to mystery. They acknowledge the fact that there is a person or people within the film's universe that are holding the camera or cameras. And instead of sloppily forcing them into the story by providing lame excuses for everything, they presented it in a way that lets you know there is a sense of comedy behind its ridiculousness.
There's layers of insanity that make it all the more entertaining. The existences of montages with overlaid music is later explained with the main character editing the film that you're watching. They even showed the opening distributor credits on the main characters computer screen before the film starts. The film is scattered with references to many other famous movies making it quite the love letter to cinema.
Its very well paced and entertaining, and the chemistry between the two main characters works insanely well. Not only that but this is one of few school set movies where the characters feel like they belong at the school. Not only were the characters appropriate for the setting but they felt very unique and watchable.
There are some of you who might really hate this film but I know there's quite a few of you, on this channel, that will really love it. And its worth the experience of seeing it for yourself either way. Now, I personally believe its best to go into this film without knowing too much about it.
So at the ending of the dirties I did find myself a little upset at where they ended it. Im kinda glad I knew nothing about the production of the film before going into it, because I don't think that the events leading up to the ending would have had the same effect.
After watching the film it was obvious they didn't continue any further for budgetary reasons mostly. So i'm glad I didn't have that lingering over my head as I was watching it for the first time. After doing some research into the budget, I was impressed how they filmed it for only $10,000. And it was actually directed by the person playing our main character. I have an insane amount of respect for how they were able to work within their budget so well. And whereas I know that some people will be giving them a pass on certian things that are associated to their budget, I don't really want to be giving this movie extra credit just for the fact that its indie.
Some of the side characters performances were a little bad and the ending could have been much better with a bigger budget. But if I could say anything about these filmmakers its that i'm excited to see what they come up with next.They really proved their capabilities and I hope to see them working with a bigger budget sometime soon.
Anyway, I have a soft spot for these kind of movies and I really loved it so go check it out!