Red State
>> 24 April 2011
Recently we were invited to a premiere screening of the movie Red State by Kevin Smith, which caused great hoopla in the Right house. Barely had I presented the tickets before the clamoring started. Will we get to meet him? Will we, will we, huh, huh? I want a picture. I want to shake his hand. I want his shirt. Well, I want a piece of his beard. (Just kidding, that would be creepy and besides it's not like we're going to see Channing Tatum)
Chill out family!! It will simply have to be enough that we're all but 30 feet from the guy. Geez.
We're split in the Right house- with 50% of us entranced with the Clerks/Mall Rats/Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back-Kevin Smith and the other 50% deeply enamored with Dogma/Zak and Miri Make a Porno/Conversations with Kevin Smith-Kevin Smith. If you haven't ever watched any of his specials- do but don't have any kids in the room because he's filthy. Hilariously, self-depreciatingly filthy.
So we boarded a plane, Griswold family Christmas Vacation style and hauled butt down to LA to the Wiltern Theater.
Absolutely gorgeous theater- all red velvet and intricate carvings. We sat first row, upper balcony.
Kevin Smith intro'd the movie. It's so odd to see someone you normally see on television in real life. Surreal.
Then the movie started. Just a little background. The movie is inspired on the anti-gay preacher Fred Phelps who runs the infamous Westboro Baptist Church- the retarded, scary asshats who commonly picket soliders' and murder victims' funerals. Red State focuses on the Cooper family, a crazy religious clan that doesn't just stop at picketing evilness in the world, they eradicate it.
Somehow Kevin Smith managed to attract some pretty big stars considering he didn't pay them very much- stars like John Goodman and Kevin Pollack who play the ATF and Melissa Leo, recent Oscar winner, as a member of the church. Michael Parks plays Pastor Cooper and it was although this role was created for him personally. Plus Kevin Smith's own wife played probably one of the biggest bad-asses in the entire film. She was absolutely amazing.
Creepiest movie I've ever seen in my entire life. One which leaves the mouth agape at the end. One where you stare at your friend in horror and awe when the final credits roll.
Although marketed as a horror flick, (which I suppose is appropriate because of the violence) Red State is so much more than can be contained in that single genre- Political Commentary, Drama, at times Comedic, Action. None of these categories can contain all the story embodies. Some interesting items of note: there's no musical score in this movie. Emotion, anxiety, the emotions of the audience is controlled either by the actors themselves or through the motion of the camera.
While the movie was awesome, the Q & A after was mind-numbingly awful. God, some people are stupid. Like seriously stupid. Two hours of...so I wrote this script, what should I do with it. Over and over and over again.
The experience was absolutely incredible. I personally can’t wait for October 19 to see the film again
3 comments:
Great write up. I wanted to see it when it came to Sundace in January, but tickets were impossible to get (unless you had $1500).
Glad you got to see it in L.A. Interesting about the Q&A afterwards with people pretty much just trying to whote out their scripts.
As a big Kevin Smith fan, I will be sure to catch it in October when it hits theaters.
Thank you so much for this. I did not realize that this is an ultra serious film. I kind of just assumed it to be a satire. The short preview clip already showed lots of violence (or the hint of it) that made me cringe the whole time. Though I know it's a good movie, and probably an important movie to watch, I am not sure I will be able to sit through it...
OMG, so jealous! I love that Kevin Smith made this, looks uber fantastic and dark. wow.
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