directed by:
Jay McLendon written by: Colin Wilson, Jay McLendon genre: Comedy |
I usually read through the synopsis of any film before I start watching, so I have some idea of what I’m in for. When “Under Glass” began with some laughter, I did a bit of a double-take – wasn’t this the plotline of a Horror film? It mentioned something about a mysterious passenger and a dark secret trying to stay buried, and yet it turns out this is a Comedy! And I know that laughter from somewhere, don’t I? Then of course, you’ll hear the sweet sounds of Britt Daniel singing soon afterwards as this movie begins jamming with Spoon’s “Back To The Life” from an incredible album called Kill The Moonlight. Cut to scenes of terrible passengers taking a ride share, an old dude trying to grasp the concept of an app, and a potential customer in a costume being smartly declined by the driver, and “Under Glass” is not just off and running; it’s interesting and clever before it has even gone round the block. You get the arguments, the painful silence, and just about every other nightmare scenario you can imagine that comes with the life of being a ride-share driver – all the reasons I essentially never even leave the house. People have a tendency to suck, and you’ll see that in full effect, right away.
Pack your patience with you though, because “Under Glass” isn’t about to go roaring along at top speed. Mind you, it chooses to cruise at the pace that it does for good reason, but it’s still a matter of whether or not it’ll trigger the impatient folks that are seeking instant gratification instead of good story-building. It’s also very fair to point out that you’re basically in the driver’s seat listening to a bunch of random-ass people talking about the mundane details of their daily life. At the same time, the main star of the show basically sits there in silence as they ramble on and on – not everyone’s going to be driven to watch something like that when they’re living that out loud already every day. I get it. There were moments where I felt like I was loving the randomness, and there were moments where it felt like “Under Glass” could certainly pick up the speed a bit. That being said, the shots, the look, and the filming are all so freakin’ cool that I personally felt like this was still easy to stick with, even when it was at its quietest. This is a genuinely artistic film. “Under Glass” never felt like it was worried about hurrying up to try and force a laugh out of you, and at times never even felt like a Comedy at all. Instead, it focuses intently on atmosphere and trying successfully to be interesting, whether it’s something you see or something you hear. “It’s a lot like life, you know? Has its ups and downs.” This movie will hold the mirror back up to society and have you holding your stomach when you realize how crappy we humans treat those in the service industry. Now that I think about it, maybe this IS actually going to be a Horror movie after all. Shout-out to the writing from Colin Wilson and Jay McLendon (who also directed “Under Glass) – they’ve got some great stuff in here, even if it’s tougher to argue that this Comedy is going to make everybody laugh. As I said, it’s more interesting and engaging than it is laugh-out-loud funny, but that’s cool with me. Highlight conversations like the old dude trying to figure out the app at the start are great, or later on down the road when a couple of guys are trying to comprehend somehow that death isn’t the underlying cause of being dead. And let’s not forget about the discussion about the oversized key ring as the driver gets questioned about why he’s got a million keys and what they open. There are comedic moments for sure, but they’re usually as dry as they get, which I like. It takes about a third of the movie to get to the mysterious passenger the synopsis originally referred to, who starts outlining a meeting they once had long ago and why they might have returned to take another ride now. Did this movie have some serious extra skrilla for its soundtrack, or are we fully going rogue here? No judgement from me, I’m just curious – we’re all pirates in the age of Spotify as far as I’m concerned. In any event, as a music lover myself, I appreciated how kickass the music of this film was along the way. As a movie lover, I might have had a bit less love for the music in all honesty…it’s a bit imposing at times as you’re trying to absorb the dialogue and figure out what’s happening in the plot. You’ll need to stay as sharp as you can too; when this movie starts to weave its strange characters and story together, it will likely be a bit more than confusing for most as our driver tries to figure out the timeline of past events and we switch scenes back and forth. It gets to the point where you really start to wonder if any of these people are even real at all, or if ride-share dude is piecing this all together in his own mind somehow. “What the fuck is going on man?” I hear that! I’ve been spending most of my time watching “Under Glass” asking that same very question, but to be honest, I don’t mind feeling that way. It really doesn’t take long into this film before you’ll realize you’d probably need to watch it at least a couple of times to grasp everything involved in the storyline and its characters fully. Just before the end of the first hour, you’ll get that moment of clarity you’ve probably been desperately hoping for as the dramatic side of this film begins to really make its presence felt. I’m confident that you’ll all catch on to what Wilson and McLendon are laying down well enough in your first viewing, but I also have no doubt whatsoever that everyone would get even more out of “Under Glass” if they were to watch this more than once.
The main question becomes – why doesn’t the driver remember anything about the mysterious night he’s been trying to piece together? Even the film itself presents a scenario that makes you wonder whether he was ever there at all. Considering the fact that the whole thing looks like some kind of old-school noir film fever dream, maybe none of this is real at all, or maybe we’ve entered the Twilight Zone. As the brakes squeal and our driver looks into an empty backseat, we have to consider all possibilities. Is he having a massive mental breakdown in real-time? Is he finding his way back to the surface of sanity? Credit where credit is due, the cast in this movie is fantastic all-around. As it dives deeper and deeper into its psychological/philosophical terrain, it’s the quality of the dialogue and the characters that keep you clinging on. If it wasn’t for that, you might have already thrown in the towel, deciding that you’d never be able to keep up with this story. Mind you, if you’re a big fan of cool-ass looking movies, it’s fair to say that the lens of McLendon would also provide you with every reason you’d need to stick around too. Plus, at some point, your curiosity has gotta kick in as well. As “Under Glass” shifted into its final third and you’ve got a bunch more information, you really want to know how this whole story will end. One of the most brilliant aspects of “Under Glass” is that it truly cruises at a smart pace that will have you figuring things out at the same pace as its main character. Again, I’m not claiming that you’ll get ALL the details from point A to point B, but that’s precisely what gives this movie genuine value on a rewatch. To take that even further, I think by the time you reach the end of “Under Glass,” you’ll be stoked to check it out all over again, to see what you might have missed and piece it all together again, armed with your newfound knowledge. I loved the black-and-white filming and its very sparing use of colour. I loved how scattered this seemed at first, and how much sense it made by the time it was finished. Above all, I loved the authenticity you’ll find in “Under Glass.” It’s fair to say that you’ve probably seen a few things like this story-wise if you’re looking directly at its mechanics or the core of its DNA, but you’ve never seen it told in a way like it is here, and that’s where the real magic is. Sure, it could tighten the screws a bit in its audio production, tone down the soundtrack a little, or not linger too long on the occasional scene, perhaps – but personally speaking, I felt like there’s way too much going right in a movie like this that none of that seemed detrimental. Instead, you get genuine art onscreen, solid acting, great writing, and remarkably clever filmmaking combined – that all matters more, right? I’m going with four stars out of five here – this was a ride that was absolutely worth taking. |
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