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Tabloid Vivant
USA 2015
produced by Alexandra Spector, Seth Killian (executive), Paul Miles (executive), Natalie Morasch (executive), Byron Younger (executive), Jane Younger (executive) for Poly-Blue
directed by Kyle Broom
starring Jesse Woodrow, Tamzin Brown, Chris Carlisle, Amber Friendly, Lisa Valerie Morgan, Ana Corbi, Christopher Heltai, Emerson Becker-Spector, Max Flisi, Chephren Johnson, Tim Padilla, Nicole Stark, Kelli Stokes
written by Kyle Broom, prosthetics by Marcus Koch, visual effects by Mike Verta, Max's paintings created by Kyle Broom
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Sara (Tamzin Brown), a reporter for an art magazine who might think
she's quite a bit more important than she actually is, meets Max (Jesse
Woodrow), a painter who's quite a bit too full of himself - and for some
reason the two of them click rather quickly, so much so that she agrees to
letting him take her to a mountain retreat where he presents to her as the
first person ever this new painting technique he has developed. Now she's
really more into him than seeing his "new technique", and even
mocks him about his lofty claims a bit on the way to their destination ...
but once there, she's nothing short of blown away as Max's technique is
even more than just ingenious and revolutionary, it's really two or three
steps ahead in the evolution of (oil on canvas) painting by pixellating
the canvas first but then bringing it to a weird form of life as the image
seems to be in constant actual change and motion - in a way that pretty
much literally mesmerizes the beholder. Of course, when Max suggests it,
Sara is willing not only to write an article about his technique - even if
she's still lacking words for it - but also to be the model for his next
painting ... and there's where the problems start, as Max finds his work
infinitely more important than Sara's (even though he does need the
publicity) and constantly keeps her from working, then has her hold still
for looong hours, blames her when he has worked her next to exhaustion,
and even her skin loses its perfect tone - to the point where he paints on
her skin to achieve exactly the colour he then copies onto his painting.
And his behaviour but also Sara's get more and more grotesque with every
day they spend alone in the mountains, to the way that Sara's publisher
(Amber Friendly) stops by, she is shocked by their behaviour - but since
she wants to exploit this new technique for her own magazine and gallery
she runs on the side, she doesn't interfere. And thus, in their mountain
retreat, the couple is pretty much heading to hell ... Now
there's a weird movie, as Tabloid Vivant marries art critic to a
psycho thriller plot, garnered with surreal, grotesque, psychedelic
imagery, and a bit of grand guignol - so yeah, weird, but weird in a good
way, because the film's rather expertly structured, with tension mounting
from beginning to end, and all of the above disparate elements are blended
together rather seamlessly thanks to the movie's subject matter - and the
outcome is visually rather stunning, but great acting also keeps the film
grounded enough in its story. Again, rather weird an experience - but
definitely one that's worth your time.
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