![]() ![]() Is it's message that our instabilities will follow us even in so-called safe havens? Is it a pandemic allegory? Is it a sexuality parable? Not that it can't be all of those, but I don't think even the movie knows what it's talking about. I like the idea of the film fine, and it's cool to see all the little areas in Walt Disney World that I know so well (I may have been in this film and not even known it), but the film gets lost in its own thematic context. You ever wonder what it would be like if Terrence Malick vacationed in Walt Disney World, drank moonshine and had an acid flashback while on It's A Small World, and then immediately afterwards stared at Spaceship Earth while a bunch of kids ran by? That's pretty much this film. Please make this a curiosity viewing only and don't get too excited. It can be interesting and engaging at times, but as a whole it doesn't really work since Moore doesn't have anything to say about the human psyche, just that this would probably be cool if a film shot in Disneyland about bad things happening existed. The film could've saved itself by its final minutes by tying up all of them in an interesting way that actually says something, but instead they vouch for a single one that negates the others. It's hard not to go into these types of films without expectations, but it simply didn't go as dark as I would've wanted and ended up feeling random instead with too many plot threads. Perhaps Moore wants us to be uncomfortable watching him, maybe there's things to be said about man's desire for young women, but it's not the kind of meaningful discomfort that really makes a viewer think, it feels thrown in there as a character quirk. Instead of a protagonist undergoing an understandable mid-life crisis, he ends up like Lester Burnham without the charm, acting just like a terribly unlikeable 16 year old pervert. The fundamental problem is that the acting is very unconvincing. The technical aspects do suffer, particularly with sound and visual effects in green screening, but that's forgivable given the circumstance but not forgivable given the script. Granted, I'm sure Moore had a lot of challenges and maybe the film doesn't match his initial vision, but the scenes away from the parks match the weirdly off tone so maybe this is who he is. Contrary to expectation, Escape From Tomorrow has an incredibly mild execution, focusing on cheap gags and slapstick rather than scares or atmosphere (black and white film is not atmosphere). Unfortunately the films we concocted out of our imaginations are much better than the material Moore thought about. It's a great juxtaposition, a surreal David Lynch/Terry Gilliam-esque nightmare in Disneyland. Evidently it's not worth the effort but boy is is that a hook beyond the film's context itself. ![]() ![]() However, the most interesting factor is that not only do Disney now know about it, but they're not doing anything about it. Surreptitiously shot at Disneyland without any permission at all, this film can still earn its title of ultimate guerrilla film based on that fact alone. While this may not exactly be Heaven's Gate, Escape From Tomorrow is a case of the film's production being far more interesting than the film itself.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |