directed by:
Tyler AM written by: Tyler AM genre: Drama, Comedy |
With its psychedelically-tinged opening, it’s clear that Writer/Director Tyler A.M. is ready and willing to bring you more than meets the eye with “Jimmy Alfredo.” From intense colours to scenes coming in and out of focus to warped mirrors in the background, the visual perspective is constantly shifting to reveal something new to us in a different way than the lens we normally look at movies through, and I dig that. Some of it makes sense, some of it seems like trippin’ out for the sole purpose of trippin’ out, but either way you slice it, “Jimmy Alfredo” becomes interesting to look at right from the get-go. As Tim meets the titular character in question during a random chance encounter in the middle of a forest, we almost have to wonder if Jimmy is even real, or if Tim is passed out underneath a tree somewhere, dreaming about what we see and taking a trip into the soul of what makes him who he is. Visually, you can see this movie is unique very quickly, but acting-wise, it’s probably shooting slightly wide of the mark, I’d say. Tensions boil over immediately on the way into this film between Tim and his parents, and it ain’t all that long before he’s out in the woods again, searching for Jimmy and, I suppose, the meaning of life too.
Obviously, it’s not long before they’re both shouting “f*ck everything” at the top of their lungs deep in the forest. I loved that through the different distortions of what we see in this film, we’re kind of left to wonder if Jimmy is a manifestation of Tim’s mind, but we have to consider the fact that the opposite could be equally true. Maybe it’s actually Tim who doesn’t exist…maybe he’s just a part of Jimmy’s never-ending anti-establishment adventure – and maybe he doesn’t actually know that’s really the case. Jimmy (Joseph Faulk) makes for a solid spiritual guide to help Tim find his new life now that he’s run away from home to do his own thing, even though it’s clear we can’t count on him as a reliable narrator. I love stories like these, where we really can’t trust anything we see or hear at all. Tim (Jacob Nowe) is pretty much relentlessly an awkward fit into whatever scene he’s in…but to be fair to the guy, it’s clear that’s what he’s supposed to be. He’s just a kid who’s still trying to figure things out for himself. As they hitchhike for a ride and get one, Jimmy takes his first savage turn for the worse and essentially robs the guy who was nice enough to take them along, and it becomes clear we really don’t know who this guy is at all. Tim and his button-down shirt sure doesn’t…we get the sense he’s way outside of his element. Tim clearly doesn’t have a clue where this story is going, and neither do we – and to be truthful with ya, I kinda really loved the fact that we’re on par with this movie’s main characters, just trying to figure it all out. Jimmy and Tim end up “trippin’ balls” in the forest, and I can certainly relate to their plate-sized pupils in that respect…I’ve definitely done my time, and they portray their most intense moments of being high, questioning the universe, and wondering where they fit into it all very well, in my opinion. I also really liked that Tyler A.M. didn’t just fully rely on the dialogue of two trippin’ dudes or feel the need to feature them in every single scene, either. Sometimes A.M. would just let the visuals roll along, hence the warning/disclaimer at the start of the film, but she used those moments to great effect in communicating the depths of just how high these two guys really were. Supposedly, they’re on their way to confront the devil himself, but as we watch, we end up wondering if they’re gonna survive their next five minutes on a fairly continual basis, or if they’ll fade into an existential crisis of their own design that they’ll never escape from. Oddly, by the end, you might even consider this to be a love story of sorts, which is seriously impressive when you think of how far this film would have to go to get it there.
A.M. proves to be a force to be reckoned with in her style of filmmaking. I love the way she shows us how high these characters get. I love that she uses subtitles occasionally for artistic effect. I love the fact that she’s not only got us questioning if these people like Tim and Jimmy are even real but that we start to wonder how freakin’ real we are ourselves! Jimmy really grew into his character. I eventually warmed up more to Tim. Smaller parts like Cataract Sally (Carly Bruno) and Kindred-The Kid (Alex Haines) ended up playing fairly crucial roles along the way as they added context to this story through their tales of what has happened in the past. “Jimmy, you’d be a good cult leader,” says Sally…and she ain’t wrong. While it’s fair to say the acting grew on me overall, it’s equally fair to say that it’s really the direction that remains to be the main star of this show more than anything else. As the night continues to go on, and we meet Lucid Lucy (Katie Guarnaccia), we start to get the sense that this trip could take a turn for the worse at any moment if they don’t find a little light in the darkness they’re trying to find their way through. Tim becomes a part of his own story rather than being the main character, and that’s a highly interesting way to go about making a movie or living a life, for that matter. Our gut instincts are correct, thanks to the way A.M. reveals this story – “Jimmy Alfredo” does indeed start to get darker & this night that never seems to end does begin to go awry beyond any of their control. Give Tim a pad of paper and a pen, though, and he always seems to find a way to be grounded enough, at least in his own thoughts. Jimmy completely disappears, leaving Tim behind, and we wonder if either is complete without the other. Everyone that Tim encounters has a Jimmy story of some kind, and for the most part, they’re not all that good. We have to at least question whether or not Jimmy is metaphorical for the bad influence we’ve all run into at some point in our lives…as in, we’ve all spent time with Jimmy at some point, right? This film ended up being commendably creative, and for all its defined uniqueness, I never once felt like it was cumbersome to stick with. Quite the opposite, really – Tyler A.M. did such a stellar job of telling this story through its characters and through his camera lens, through the details and the visual effects, that we end up intensely paying attention to every ticking second. Everything and nothing makes sense, all at the same time, and if you’ve ever taken a sip of the ol’ electric Kool-Aid for yourself, you know that’s essentially how nights like these go. More time passes in “Jimmy Alfredo” than just one night in theory, but you get what I mean…when you start trippin’ balls, that becomes a lifetime commitment at the end of the day. It changes you in profound ways that no one really understands like you yourself do. Tyler did an exceptional job of showing us that in a way that those of us who have been there can relate to. As to whether or not everyone out there is gonna get a movie like “Jimmy Alfredo” – I dunno…I guess I doubt that’s possible, but I think both A.M. and I would care even less. This film is for those who get it, pure and simple. If you don’t get it, that’s okay – it really wasn’t made for you. Is there a grander point to this whole story, or something we can take out of the life of “Jimmy Alfredo?” Not really. It’s merely entertainment laced with thought-provoking metaphors that remind us that “reality is what you make of it.” I’m gonna go with four stars out of five here…I think Tyler A.M. is a beast with her direction; I felt like she’s written an intensely unique story and that he got major mileage out of this tale, beginning to end. |
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