:
Linas Phillips,
Jim Fletcher,
Alex Karpovsky
:
Linas Phillips
see all cast/crew...
: New Video NYC
: Comedies, Independent, Quest, Road Movies
: 101 min.
: English
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Director and actor Linas Phillips takes his audience on a strange but fascinating cross-country journey in this independent comedy. Linas isn't sure what to do with himself when his girlfriend (who is already married) breaks up with him, his friend tells him he's no longer welcome to sleep on the sofa and he has no idea of where to turn. Stuck in Seattle, Linas wishes he could get out of town, and when he finds "Shorty," a battered 1976 Volkswagen bus that's been customized to significantly reduce its length, he buys the vehicle, hops in and starts heading East, with a vague notion to going to Brooklyn. Over the next ten days, Linas drifts from one side of the country to another, and as he encounters a variety of colorful strangers en route, he begins to embrace the possibilities that come with each turn of the road and begins to believe being on his own isn't as awful as expected. Combining scripted material with improvisation and interactions with random strangers, Bass Ackwards received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, AMG
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| An endearing adventure
by mkaliher2
June 13, 2011 - 11:58 PM PDT
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What do we have here? Yet another road movie? Well, yes and no: our would-be hero Linas comes off as rather a lovable loser--evicted from his best friend's couch after sponging off him and messing up his apartment for God knows how long, dumped by his ambivalent lover after her husband finds them out. What's a guy to do? Ever the loser, Linas is lucky enough, we think, to find a job scooping up llama turds in exchange for a place to sleep in a dilapidated one-room shack.
But our hero's turd-scooping career doesn't last long, and our increasing pathetic hero soon heads for his parents home in Boston, to recruit for an unspecified period of time, behind the wheel of a ridiculous chopped 1976 Volkswagen bus that barely runs. Do we have a road movie? Well, yes and no: the characters he encounters on his odyssey defy every road-movie cliché, surprising us with their idiosyncrasy and humanity.
Paul Lazar plays us hard as Vic, a blind and deaf gas station attendant . . . until the phone rings, and he turns out to be perfectly capable. More capable than we might have guessed, as he introduces us to the terminally ill children he lovingly comforts. Then there's Jim, who appears to be a disoriented homeless man--played by Jim Fletcher--until a few conversations on his cell phone reveal a struggling part-time father whose life is, shall we say, a bit of a challenge. And we're introduced to a handsome couple who successfully farm specialty vegetables, but are frustrated with their boy, who straddles the cusp of delinquency. Even the young barflies Linas tries to pick up on the way are endearing. Perhaps Linas begins to realize we all have our trials . . . and our humanity.
If you like really independent indies, check this one out. Linas Phillips, Lazar, Fletcher, and all the actors have put together a unique film, with the remarkable work of cinematographer Sean Porter and film editor Brett Jutkiewicz. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.33)
3 Votes
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